No. 2 Minnesota Timberwolves All-Time Big Three
2017-18 Season: Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns
Ah yes, this team. What could’ve been.
Tom Thibodeau led this team to the fifth-most wins ever in franchise history. How, you may ask? The answer is Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Timberwolves were sitting comfortably in third place in the West with a record of 36-26 before Jimmy Buttler went down with a knee injury in late February. The Wolves went 8-9 down the stretch, leading to a win-or-go-home game against the Nuggets. In that game, Butler put the team on his back, scoring 31 points and putting up five rebounds and five assists.
Andrew Wiggins
In his age-22 season, Andrew Wiggins averaged 17.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. Still, this was one of Wiggin’s worst seasons.
Shooting an abysmal 43 percent from the field and just 64 percent from the line, the Jayhawk product struggled greatly. However, he played in all 82 games and averaged 36.3 minutes per contest, and had impressive moments defensively.
Karl-Anthony Towns
Finally, Towns was beginning to blossom into the player everyone thought he would be, including making his first All-Star team.
He averaged 21.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.4 blocks per game, and was extremely efficient from the field, shooting 54 percent and 42 percent from deep. He also shot 85 percent from the line. Put simply, you don’t see that all too often from centers in the NBA.
Jimmy Butler
Say what you want about Jimmy Butler, but he knows how to win as evident by his run with the Miami Heat.
Jimmy Buckets averaged 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and two steals per game. When Butler was on the court, the Timberwolves outscored opponents by 8.3 points per 100 possessions. Without him, they were outscored by 4.5 points per 100 possessions.
Regardless of his brutal — and I mean brutal — departure from the Timberwolves, this Wolves season was the most exciting season in a long time.