Minnesota Timberwolves: Best players of the 2010-19 decade

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BOSTON, MA – DECEMBER 5: Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love (42) looks to pass the ball. (Photo by Chris Elise/Getty Images) /

2. Kevin Love

While Karl-Anthony Towns has been the face of the Minnesota Timberwolves since his rookie season in 2015, Kevin Love was by far the best player on the roster until the franchise traded him in April of 2014.

The only Minnesota player with three All-Star appearances this decade, Love earned his money with many unbelievable rebounding performances (including 31 against the New York Knicks) and 3-point barrages.

Despite sharing the floor with huge centers like Nikola Pekovic and Al Jefferson, Love excelled on the boards and was able to average 12.2 rebounds to go with his 19.2 points per game in a Timberwolves uniform.

On teams that started players including Alexey Shved, Wesley Johnson, Derrick Williams, and Greg Stiemsma, Love made the team watchable. During the early 2010s, his individual performances and Ricky Rubio‘s passing were perhaps the only reasons to tune in to Timberwolves games, and the duo nearly turned the Wolves into a playoff squad.

Although he was unable to lead the team to postseason play during his tenure in Minnesota, Kevin Love put up amazing individual numbers as a first option during his 6 seasons in the Twin Cities.

To remind fans of Love’s terrific play during his time in Minnesota, check out his career highlights with the team:

In addition, Minnesota was able to use Kevin Love’s talent and strong individual performances to trade him to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the first-overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft — a pick that would turn into the player who comes in at third on the Timberwolves players of the decade list.