Lack of fan enthusiasm over slumping Timberwolves should sound alarms

The Minnesota Timberwolves are slumping quickly, but the enthusiasm of the Minnesota Timberwolves fanbase is slumping even more quickly. For a team with new ownership taking over, that will sound the alarms if they have not already been sounded.  The problem is not that the Timberwolves are a bad team. The problem is that the Timberwolves are an unreliable team and their future draft picks are, by and large, now the property of the Utah Jazz.

As a result, the Timberwolves have robbed their fanbase of the two areas that generate the most fan enthusiasm. Not only do the Timberwolves not win consistently, but their lack of success on the basketball yields no off-season excitement either. You see, thanks to the trade for center Rudy Gobert, the Utah Jazz hold the Minnesota Timberwolves’ first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. That pick has a 3.8 percent chance of landing among the draft’s Top-4 picks.

Timberwolves feed fan pessimism

The lack of on-court excitement has combined with the lack of future anticipation and optimism to hang over the Minnesota Timberwolves like the shroud of a dark foggy night. That gloom and despair are now beginning to bleed over into social media, as fans become more and more expressive over their disappointment over this team.

And perhaps an even more concerning social media message was delivered by another fan. While the mood is shared in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, the underlying message about giving up on a team that is still very much in the hunt for a berth in the NBA Playoffs is unmistakable.

That’s a big deal. Compare and contrast that with the robust enthusiasm among LA Lakers fans, a fanbase who cheer for a 29-33 team that has lost both Lebron James and D’Angelo Russell for the foreseeable future. They are reaching a crescendo, nearly a fever pitch, in their belief that the Lakers will earn an NBA Playoff berth.

As much as we see it otherwise, the ultimate goal of any NBA team is to attract fan support through success and enthusiasm. Right now, the Timberwolves are clearly not generating the fan fever that other teams are creating.  Unless the Timberwolves go on a very impressive winning streak, more changes could be in store for this team in the off-season.