It’s been a busy summer for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite a lot of activity and ups and downs, it’s clear that the future is bright in Minnesota.
Let’s be honest, Wolves fans. We’re in uncharted territory here. And I don’t mean “uncharted” like when Chris Columbus “discovered” a place that already had millions of people living there. I mean actual uncharted, like stumbling through a cursed forest blindfolded for three decades and finally emerging to find a fully operational Buc-ee’s with clean bathrooms and a beef jerky wall.
Because after decades of sadness, dysfunction, blown draft picks, and “Wally Szczerbiak is our second-best player” moments, the Minnesota Timberwolves have finally morphed into something coherent, competent, and dare I say… championship-adjacent?
It’s a wild sentence to type, but it’s even wilder to believe. This team just came off back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances. Read that again. Let it marinate. Like leftover Chinese food, it tastes even better the next day.
And the craziest part? This feels sustainable.
The Connelly Effect
Let’s start with the mastermind, the low-key wizard in all of this: Tim Connelly. The man was nationally derided by NBA pundits for being “fleeced” after the Rudy Gobert trade. Sports Twitter treated him like he’d drafted Anthony Bennett on purpose.
But now? Gobert’s transformed the Wolves’ defense into a fortress. Try scoring in the paint when you’ve got a French skyscraper playing volleyball with every shot attempt. That defense was the reason the Wolves ground down LeBron’s Lakers and Steph’s Warriors in this year’s playoffs. And those precious draft picks the Wolves gave up? Currently projected to become Utah’s 29th and 30th selections in future drafts. That’s the NBA equivalent of trading a Tesla for five bicycles.
Gobert trade? Thumbs up. Permanent receipt in Connelly’s win column.
But let’s talk about the most recent blockbuster swap: the Karl-Anthony Towns trade.
This was the gut punch. The breakup that had to happen. Like when your college girlfriend gets super into astrology and tells you Mars in retrograde is the reason she cheated. KAT was our guy. Face of the franchise. But he also had a ballooning contract that threatened to financially nuke this team into second-apron hell.
Connelly somehow flipped Towns for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and the No. 17 pick in the draft—which turned into Joan Beringer, a 6’10” menace, full of potential. If this were an NFL trade, the league would’ve vetoed it for competitive imbalance.
Also, sidebar: Connelly pulled this off and it created the flexibility to re-sign Naz Reid. That’s like eating your cake, saving room for dessert, then realizing your cake is also an asset on a reasonable contract. Delicious.
The Moves That Didn’t Happen
Now let’s enter the alternate timeline where the Wolves traded for Kevin Durant. Picture it: Ant and KD in the same lineup. Childhood idol and rising star.
It sounds amazing on paper, but now that the rumored trade cost has been leaked? Gobert, DiVincenzo, Terence Shannon Jr., and the #17 pick that became Beringer.
No thanks.
KD is a legend, sure. But he’s soon-to-be-37 with a contract larger than the budget of a James Cameron movie. And if you’ve been watching the Summer League, you know Shannon Jr. and Beringer might be the next great young Wolves bench duo. Shannon’s putting up points like he’s trying to impress his ex, and Beringer’s plus-minus numbers already look like playoff glue-guy material.
Plus, let’s face it—how many times have we seen the Superteam model fall flat? Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make. Don’t believe me, just check out this poll of Phoenix Suns fans and how they now feel about the Bradley Beal trade…
Speaking of trades you should make: if you’ve been following these Wolves lines, FanDuel Sportsbook NBA futures markets are already heating up. There might not be a better time to bet on Minnesota sneaking into that top-3 seed territory. I’m not saying it’ll pay off… but I’m also not not saying it.
The Wolves of Tomorrow
So what now? The Wolves enter the post-Summer League abyss with one of the best cores in the West and a supporting cast that gives Ant the help he needs.
Ownership? The Lore-Rodriguez group is turning out to be less “retired athlete vanity project” and more “legit, engaged power brokers.” They’re rebranding. Talking about a new arena. Flirting with bringing back Kevin Garnett (please, just do it already). Everything feels… adult. Organized. Professional.
In Conclusion…
Wolves fans, we’ve earned this. We’ve lived through the Darko years. The Flynn-over-Steph years. The “let’s draft six point guards in one night” years. We’ve watched playoff games with the same existential dread as season finales of Game of Thrones. We wanted to believe, but deep down we knew we’d probably get burned.
Not anymore.
This team is different. It’s not just the wins. It’s how they win. The Wolves aren’t sneaking by. They’re dictating terms. They’re climbing out of the NBA basement not as a feel-good underdog story, but as a dangerous, fully operational basketball machine.
We’ve gone from being the league’s punchline to a team that punches back.
And it’s about damn time.