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The Minnesota Timberwolves had a promising end to the 2020-21 NBA season with rookie Anthony Edwards one of the few bright spots during a difficult year. Anthony Edwards blossomed into a future star and they have a 16-25 record since hiring a new coach.
Yes, there were some bright spots during the season, but much of it was a disaster with a 23-49 record that’s sixth-worst in the NBA. A lot of things that could go wrong went wrong for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who will now try to pick up the pieces and hope that the 2021-22 season will be better.
Here are five things that went so wrong for the Minnesota Timberwolves this past season.
#5 Minnesota Timberwolves’ draft lottery misfortunes
A deal is a deal but it still doesn’t feel good to give up a lottery pick. The Minnesota Timberwolves had a chance to nab the first pick of the 2021 draft to continue their rebuild. Because of their losing record, the Timberwolves were in line to possibly select first in the upcoming NBA Draft.
Instead, the Minnesota Timberwolves landed seventh and, as part of the Andrew Wiggins-D’Angelo Russell trade, had to send their pick to the Golden State Warriors. The pick was top-three protected, but the Warriors had a 72.4 percent chance of getting the pick from the Timberwolves.
The book now closes on that swap of players, but it would have been nice for the Minnesota Timberwolves to end the season by selecting one of the top three players in the upcoming NBA Draft.
#4 Among the league’s worst offensively and defensively
A huge problem for the Minnesota Timberwolves was finding their identity both offensively and defensively. The team fired coach Ryan Saunders as the Timberwolves were in the midst of a losing streak. They hired Chris Finch in late February but didn’t start winning games until much later.
They had a 7-24 record at the time of Saunders’ firing. They were 28th in offensive rating and 23rd in defense, putting the Minnesota Timberwolves in a hole that was too deep for them to climb out of.
#3 Malik Beasley suspended 12 games by NBA and missed rest of season
The NBA suspended Minnesota Timberwolves guard Malik Beasley for 12 games without pay after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of threats of violence. He was sentenced to 120 days of jail time for the incident on Sept. 26, which he is currently serving with an Aug. 17 release. In addition, he had to complete anger management, pay a $3,000 fine and go on a three-year probation period.
The Minnesota Timberwolves guard returned on Mar. 27 but played just four games before he was out with a sore left hamstring and missed the rest of the season.
#2 Injuries to several Minnesota Timberwolves players
During a year when just about every major NBA superstar spent time on the injured list, the Minnesota Timberwolves had to endure injuries to their star players, D’Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns.
With the Minnesota Timberwolves down in the dumps with a 7-20 record, Russell injured his left knee in February and missed almost two months of basketball. By the time he returned, the Minnesota Timberwolves had only won five times and owned a 12-38 record.
Aside from the two stars, they also endured injuries to Beasley, Josh Okogie, Jarrett Culver and others, not to mention players who went into the league’s health and safety protocols during the season.
#1 Karl-Anthony Towns tested positive for COVID-19
The worst thing that happened to the Minnesota Timberwolves was Karl-Anthony Towns getting COVID-19. The team’s franchise center had already lost several members of his family, including his mom last year, to the dreaded disease.
But for Towns to be the latest in his family to acquire COVID and for the Minnesota Timberwolves to lose him early in the season, it was a double-whammy for the 6-foot-11 center.
He said he felt bad because he had the resources to beat the virus while others didn’t.
"I felt very guilty about the treatment I got," Towns said via ESPN. "And I feel that should be more widely available to Americans, to anyone in the world. I felt very guilty even getting something that could help me more just recover, stay healthy, stay alive. There is such mental strain through all this time, a feeling of guilt because of the resources I have, and I wish I could spread these resources with as many people as possible. The guilt, just a lot of demons I haven't dealt with that I put to the back burner for basketball."
In the 13 games that he missed, the Minnesota Timberwolves lost 10 of them. They were 6-18 by the time he returned and it took a long while before Towns was able to help them get back to winning basketball.
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