Minnesota Timberwolves players, organization, continue speaking out

Nearly a week after the George Floyd tragedy took place in Minneapolis, the Minnesota TImberwolves organization and its individual players are continuing to be involved in the response.

As the George Floyd tragedy has continued to envelop the nation and gain attention from around the world, the Minnesota Timberwolves have continued their local response.

A couple of days ago we discussed the Adrian Wojnarowski article that included interviews with Ryan Saunders, Gersson Rosas and Malik Beasley. The Wolves as an organization held a weekly virtual call with all players and coaches and included a guest speaker specializing in community-police relations.

As events have continued to unfold, there has been more of a response from Wolves players individually, and the team has continued to stay active on social media.

Both Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Okogie were present at the Friday rally that featured community activists and former NBA player Stephen Jackson as speakers. You can see them to the right of the below photo tweeted out by the Timberwolves.

According to Okogie, Towns traveled into town for the rally but never spoke at the event.

Okogie also gave an interview to Forbes’ Adam Zagoria and spoke about a number of things, including his communication with other local officers since the tragedy occurred last Monday.

"“I’ve spoken to a lot of officers that I’ve known in this area and they definitely didn’t follow protocol. Neither did they handle the situation properly or act in a way that was humane.”"

The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski posted a lengthy question-and-answer with Okogie (subscription required) that covered many of the same topics but a bit more in-depth. Okogie also spoke candidly to his experiences.

Additionally, Ryan Saunders and Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeves spoke to Darren Wolfson of KSTP and Skor North.

Other Wolves players, including Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangomez, have remained active on social media while chiming in on the Floyd tragedy and the response in various cities around the nation.

We’ll keep an eye on what more the Timberwolves organization might do to be directly involved in the Twin Cities community moving forward, but it’s fair to expect more direct interaction on this issue from the franchise at some point moving forward.