Minnesota Timberwolves: 10 players you forgot played for the Wolves in the 2010s
By Ben Beecken
Remember when so-and-so suited up for the Minnesota Timberwolves? If you don’t, you’re about to. Enjoy this list of 10 players you forgot played for the Wolves in the 2010s.
Originally, we were going to focus on 10 forgotten players throughout the course of Minnesota Timberwolves history.
Instead, it ballooned into the 10 most forgotten players of the last decade. As it turns out, the Timberwolves had had quite a few forgettable players pull on Wolves white/blue/black/green uniform over the 30-plus years of franchise history.
That means that today, we’re looking at only the years 2010 through 2019.
Most players on this list are best known for their time with other NBA teams and none spent more than a season with the Timberwolves. Many only saw the floor a handful of times in Wolves duds. But nearly all are recognizable names to even casual fans. Well, except for Stewie.
In fact, let’s jump into it with none other than the great Oleksiy Pecherov.
10 players you forgot played for the Minnesota Timberwolves: Oleksiy Pecherov
. Center. Minnesota Timberwolves. Oleksiy Pecherov. 10. player. 86
- Played in 44 games with Wolves in 2009-10
- Averaged 4.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game
How easily we forget.
It seems like just yesterday that Pecherov was dropping 24 and eight in a close loss to the Boston Celtics. Seriously, that happened. In fact, Pehcerov scored in double figures six times in the first 15 games of the 2009-10 season. But then, Kevin Love returned from injury, and Pecherov went back to a fringe role.
For his Wolves career, Pecherov played in 44 games, starting five, and averaged 4.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. A 7-footer, Pecherov still squeezed the trigger from 3-point range 1.2 times per game despite only averaging 10.2 minutes per contest. He made just 26.9 percent of his long-range attempts.
Pecherov, the No. 18 pick by Washington in 2006, was one of three players that were shipped from the Wizards to the Wolves along with the No. 5 pick in the 2009 draft in David Kahn’s first move as president of basketball operations in Minnesota. The Wolves only had to give up Randy Foye and Mike Miller for the pick. The other two players, Etan Thomas and Darius Songalia, were flipped in other deals later in the offseason.
But Pecherov remained and played significant minutes off the bench early in the season for Kurt Rambis’ Wolves. Following the 2009-10 season, Pecherov signed to play in Europe and has been there ever since, save for a preseason stint with the Denver Nuggets in 2015.