The Timberwolves are about to have no All-Star starters

After the release of the first All-Star voting, fans were surprised that the Minnesota Timberwolves were getting such little love.  Now the second returns have been released, and unfortunately, things are only looking worse for the Wolves.

The last time the Minnesota Timberwolves were represented in the All-Star game was back in 2014 when Kevin Love was voted in as a starter. The last time they were represented with multiple players was back in 2004 when Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell were voted to the team and head coach Flip Saunders took the reins of the Western Conference.

Many fans had been hoping things would change this year with a number of young superstars growing into their own. With the Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, and the addition of three-time All-Star Jimmy Butler, All-Star weekend was looking to be a lot busier for Minnesota during this years’ All-Star break.

However, the first fan voting showed the Timberwolves weren’t quite receiving as much as love as they deserve. While Towns and Butler both made the top ten in their respective positions in the Western Conference, both were far behind players with fewer (or at least less impressive) appearances thus far in the season, and nowhere near the number of votes needed to qualify as a starter.

I’ve noticed the Timberwolves’ account pushing a lot harder for the All-Star game on Twitter since the first release of results, so I was hopeful with the second release we’d see the Wolves push their way up the rankings.

But not quite…

While Jimmy Butler has made the leap from 10th to 9th, it’s not enough to push him anywhere close to the All-Star game. While I don’t like to disrespect players, there’s no way Manu Ginobili deserves to be almost 500,000 votes ahead of Butler based on play this season, but of course, All-Star fan voting is a popularity contest after all so things like this will always happen.

In between the releases, Towns has actually dropped a spot to ninth as he’s been overtaken by Los Angeles Lakers’ rookie Kyle Kuzma. Kawhi Leonard, with his grand total of eight games this season, remains ahead of Towns by over 100,000 votes.

Although fan voting is only one-third of the equation to select the All-Star starters (the media and players make up the rest), it isn’t looking good for Minnesota to get any players into the starting lineup.

It remains to be seen if the coaches will push either Wolf into the reserves, but with both Butler and Towns playing great this season (particularly recently), it would be a shame to see neither make it.

While my prediction means absolutely nothing, I’m expecting Towns to likely be left out altogether, unfortunately, as his youth and the stigma around his defense may get in the way of votes (despite the lack of defense in All-Star games).

I’m hoping beyond hope, however, that Butler’s name will be read out as an All-Star, as coaches will look at the Timberwolves’ improved record since his arrival and reward his great play.

Things are looking down for the Timberwolves’ All-Star hopes, but with nothing finalized just yet, and coaches getting the decision for reserves, there’s still hope for our Wolves.

Next: Timberwolves Heating Up

The Minnesota Timberwolves have taken great strides this season, as our record clearly shows. While fan voting hasn’t shown the Wolves’ stars the love they deserve, all is not lost just yet. We’ll have to stay tuned to see just who will be making an appearance in the 2018 All-Star game.