Assigning blame for the Timberwolves’ lost season: COVID-19 and bad luck
COVID-19: 10 percent
First, it’s important to note that the impacts of COVID-19 reach far, far beyond basketball and have impacted countless families in lasting ways. Clearly, the Timberwolves’ organizational plight pales in comparison to the very real impacts of the pandemic.
In terms of the team’s on-court performance and the season to date, COVID-19 has impacted the Timberwolves organization in a profound way. Assigning 10 percent of the blame for the Wolves’ bad start to the season seems right.
Aside from being excluded from the NBA bubble, which kept the Wolves entire roster sidelined for nearly nine months, the Wolves (along with the rest of the league) missed out on Las Vegas Summer League, which would have been extremely beneficial given that the Wolves are the youngest team in the league.
Summer basketball and a full, normal offseason would have given a young roster that has experienced very high turnover a chance to mesh before the start of the season, something this team desperately needed.
On top of that, multiple Wolves players have tested positive for the virus. Notably, Ricky Rubio tested positive this summer and was recently missed a few games after being put back into COVID-19 league protocol as a close contact with Juancho Hernangomez, who tested positive.
Then, Karl-Anthony Towns, whose family has already suffered endlessly from COVID-19 and its impacts, also tested positive and has missed nearly a month.
Bad luck: 10 percent
The Wolves started the season with a 2-0 record, including an impressive road win against the Utah Jazz. Since then, bad luck has played a role in the Wolves’ struggles, earning 10 percent of the blame.
Toward the end of the Utah game, Towns went down with a wrist injury, causing him to miss several games. After a two-game return to the court, Towns returned a positive COVID-19 test, further extending his absence.
This stroke of bad luck has been brutal for the Wolves, whose entire offensive and defensive schemes are entirely centered around KAT.
The Wolves have also faced injury struggles at other positions as D’Angelo Russell, Jarrett Culver, and Josh Okogie have all missed significant time with injury.
This not to suggest that the Wolves’ injury situation is unique to other teams in the league. It merely states that the Wolves have had at least one of their key rotation players missing for almost the entire season, and their best player has appeared in four of 24 possible games.
In fairness, injuries are common around the league, and thus cannot be overly attributed to the Wolves’ struggles this year. But it certainly has been a factor.