The Minnesota Timberwolves reached the playoffs for the fourth straight season and won a playoff series for the third straight year. But throughout the season, it seemed like something was off. Naz Reid characterized it as “moodiness and head coach Chris Finch described last season as “a bad wind” that swept through the organization both on and off the court.
“It was a weird season in the sense that [President of Basketball Operations] Tim Connelly probably said it best. …The whole season kind of felt like a bad wind,” Finch said during an interview on The Road Trippin’ Show that was released on Thursday. “We had high expectations, and we’ve had a lot of success getting to the Western Conference Finals, and we know that we have a long way to go still. And at times, we felt bored with the regular season. We were not playing our best basketball."
“But it all started to come together and we played really well. I felt we’d wake up at the playoffs. I was just praying we didn’t get stuck in the [Play-In Tournament]...and kind of come out and have a s****y game and then lose it, you know? But maybe [there was] some fatigue around success, which sounds crazy. Like, as a young team…I kind of sensed it was coming. So to go through it, it was even more frustrating because you felt you couldn’t stop it from happening…and we could never sustain [it]. We’d have really good periods of play, and then we’d just kind of have a bunch of duds.”
Finch’s comments sum up the 2025-26 Timberwolves perfectly, and it was a big reason for change. But the fact they got through it could help Minnesota get over the hump and give fans a reason to buy into next year’s team.
The Timberwolves’ rough 2025-26 season could make them better this season
The Wolves encountered all sorts of issues last season, including the lack of a true point guard and injuries to Edwards. While the team consisted of most of the pieces from the previous two years, their synergy seemed off at times, resulting in some mind-numbing losses that even Edwards didn’t have an explanation for.
Although they lost Donte DiVincenzo and Edwards due to injury, the Wolves flipped the switch when the playoffs arrived, upsetting the Denver Nuggets in the first round. They also were able to steal a pair of games from the San Antonio Spurs in the following round, but they still felt disconnected as they were eliminated from the playoffs.
It’s a long list of things that prevented the Wolves from reaching their potential. But there were also several things off the court that hindered them as well.
The ICE raids in the Twin Cities area became a major storyline and even postponed a game with the Golden State Warriors in Minneapolis after Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents in January. While the game was played the following day, the Wolves were lethargic in a 111-85 loss that was the final game in a season-high five-game losing streak.
Rumors of a trade for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo were another distraction off the court. Those rumors played a key role in Julius Randle’s struggles in the second half of the season, and the Wolves seemed out of sync even as they made their run through the playoffs.
Still, winning a first-round series despite everything going on highlights their talent. The Timberwolves also upgrade their biggest flaw by trading for LaMelo Ball. As such, buying into the Wolves this could be easy, and there could be some similarities to the 2023-24 Timberwolves.
2023-24 could be a blueprint for this year's Timberwolves team
While expectations were high after trading for Rudy Gobert the previous summer, it took time to get acclimated and resulted in a 42-40 record and a spot in the play-in tournament.
D’Angelo Russell’s stylistic clashes with Gobert also led to a midseason trade that brought Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Mike Conley to Minnesota, but things boiled over when Jaden McDaniels broke his hand punching a wall, and Kyle Anderson took a swing at Gobert on the bench during their regular season finale.
While the Wolves seemed destined to sell Gobert for pennies on the dollar the following offseason, they decided to stay the course, and everything came together the following year, finishing with their best record (56-26) and reaching the conference finals for the first time since the 2003-04 season. The connectivity that team has been the best of Finch’s tenure with the team and could be what the Wolves need for a rebound year.
There will be some growing pains as the Wolves look to integrate Ball into their offense. There’s also their injury situation, which will begin with DiVincenzo missing at least most of the upcoming season after tearing his Achilles tendon during last year’s playoffs.
But in the same way the sun rises in the morning, the Wolves are hoping a fresh start will bring them together. And if everything clicks, they should have the experience they need to make a run in the Western Conference.
Add us as a preferred source on Google