Minnesota Timberwolves: Top 30 greatest players of all-time
By Ben Beecken
. Guard/Forward. Minnesota Timberwolves. Tony Campbell. 24. player. 86
- Three seasons with Timberwolves (1989-92)
- Averaged 20.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game with Timberwolves
- Led Wolves in scoring during inaugural season with 23.2 points per game
Tony Campbell was signed as a free agent by the expansion Minnesota Timberwolves in 1989, prior to the franchise’s inaugural season, and was immediately the team’s best scorer.
After never having played 19 or more minutes per game in the first five years of his career split between the Pistons and Lakers, Campbell stepped in and played in all 82 games, averaging a whopping 38.6 minutes and 23.2 points per game for a 22-win Wolves team.
His scoring dipped a bit the next year and even more in his third year in Minnesota, but still managed to average 20.6 points per game over the course of his three seasons in a Timberwolves uniform. They were never good during his tenure, of course, through no fault of his own.
Campbell was a good scorer but was never ultra-efficient. He wasn’t a great long-range shooter, and outside of his huge 1989-90 season with the Timberwolves, didn’t get to the free throw line all that much, either. But on a bad team with quite a few young players, Campbell had every opportunity to have the ball in his hands and assert himself, and had one of the better scoring seasons in franchise history.
Campbell was ultimately sent to the Knicks in exchange for a second-round pick just prior to the 1992-93 season. He played a season and a half in New York and finished his career with a half-season in Dallas and a season in Cleveland.