If you know your Minnesota Timberwolves history, you know there were a lot of lean years littered throughout it. The Kevin Garnett years saw an improvement in their performances, but overall, they have a 1,235-1,703 record in their franchise history. At 39-23 thus far in 2025-26, they sit just three wins away from just their 13th over-.500 seasons in 37 years of existence.
Playing on their home-court didn’t give much of an advantage for Minnesota in many of their seasons. Of course, these current times are no longer the lean years. With their victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, the Wolves improved to 21-11 this season at the Target Center.
That clinched their fifth-straight winning season at home, and seventh in their last nine, after only accomplishing that feat once in the previous 11 years.
Timberwolves have turned around a stretch of losing years at home
For 13 consecutive seasons from 2004-05 until 2016-17, the Timberwolves did not get to experience any type of playoff basketball. Only twice in that time did they finish with a winning record, fewer than the amount of years over that span that they didn’t reach 20 wins (three).
In 10 of 11 seasons from 2006-07 until 2016-17, Minnesota ended the year with a losing mark at home. Here is their home record in each of those seasons:Â
2006-07: 20-21
2007-08: 15-26
2008-09: 11-30Â
2009-10: 10-31
2010-11: 12-29
2011-12: 13-20
2012-13: 20-21
2013-14: 24-17
2014-15: 9-32
2015-16: 14-27
2016-17: 20-21
Now, three years in that stretch, they finished just one win shy of finishing with a winning record at home. It’s safe to say though at no point during those 11 seasons did opposing teams fear going into Minnesota to take on the Timberwolves.
Of course, a large part of the turnaround is due to Anthony Edwards who has become one of the game's true superstars. The trade for Rudy Gobert, drafting of Jaden McDaniels, and the success story of the undrafted Naz Reid have also played huge roles in helping the Timberwolves become a formidable opponent.
The team had some solid years with the Edwards/Karl-Anthony Towns pairing, but no drop-off has been experienced since trading KAT for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo (as well as a first-round pick that became Joan Beringer).
Count your blessings if you just recently became a fan of the Timberwolves. You missed out on a lot of losing. The next step is to both reach their first NBA finals, as well as win their first NBA championship.