Minnesota Timberwolves: Could Mike D’Antoni be head coach next year?

The Minnesota Timberwolves seem to be satisfied with Ryan Saunders as head coach. However, that may not be the case if Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni becomes available.

This past offseason, the Minnesota Timberwolves brought in a whole new regime. Gersson Rosas was hired from the Houston Rockets as general manager, and Ryan Saunders was promoted from interim head coach to head coach.

Hiring Rosas was a great decision, he has essentially turned over the entire roster. After drafting Jarrett Culver and Jaylen Nowell this past summer, he traded for D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Juan Hernangomez at the trade deadline, giving the team a real core group of players to build around.

Saunders has been underwhelming, though. In just one season with semi-promising aspirations, the team finished with a 19-45 record, the second-worst in the Western Conference. Saunders is young, though, and it seems as though Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and Gersson Rosas believe in his ability to lead the team in the future.

"“[Saunders] is excited about this change that now he has guys that can play the kind of basketball he wants,” Taylor said. “He is really a believer in the three-point shot, moving the ball fast and getting up and down the court. He needed some players that were better three-point shooters than what we had previously.”"

Of course, however, there is a scenario at which Mike D’Antoni does become available this offseason, and Gersson Rosas has worked with him in the past. In an article written by Sam Amick in December, he outlined the odds of this happening (Subscription required).

In that article, Amick pointed out that, unless there a championship was delivered by Houston, there is only a ‘slim’ chance that D’Antoni returns to the Rockets.

D’Antoni, in the final year of his contract, seemingly has gone all-in on his 3-and-D type playstyle after the team acquired Robert Covington (in the deal that brought in Beasley and Hernangomez). While the Timberwolves would certainly be a different situation (still, one with potentially a superstar and another all-star point guard), it does seem unlikely that the Wolves fire Saunders after just one year, even if it was really bad.

Rosas, like Houston GM Daryl Morey, has been extremely aggressive in his attempt to improve the roster, and it will be interesting to see whether the coaching staff is apart of that effort. Regardless of how you view Saunders, D’Antoni is regarded as one of the more successful coaches in the NBA and owns two coach-of-the-year awards.

Saunders originally took over as coach after Tom Thibodeau was relieved as coach back in 2019, but even if Minnesota decides to keep him past the 19-20 season, he will almost certainly be on the hot seat if success is not achieved with a full year with an improved roster.