Entering this past NBA season, there were not many who believed in the Minnesota Timberwolves as a true championship contender. At least, not outside of the Twin Cities of course. Fans of nearly every other team in the association looked at Minnesota as a team that was good, but not to be seriously considered in the ranks of teams contending for a title.
Now, that perception has changed in a big way. Nearly every pundit and analyst has the Timberwolves listed among their top three to five biggest threats to take home a championship in June 2025. For the first time in the entire lives of many Wolves fans, Minnesota is widely respected, and not many would be surprised to see them walk away from the 2024-25 season holding a championship trophy.
However, there are still plenty of doubters. Not as many as there once were, but some are still advocates that the Timberwolves are not as good as last season might suggest. One of the people who can be put in this category is ESPN Senior Writer Kevin Pelton.
Recently, Pelton wrote an article where he detailed six NBA teams that he believes are primed to either improve or decline in the coming season (subscription required). Wolves fans will be disappointed to see that Kevin is of the belief Minnesota will be taking a step back in the coming months.
Kevin Pelton believes the Timberwolves will take a step back
The Timberwolves had excellent injury luck during the 2023-24 season for the most part. That is one of the biggest reasons why Pelton sees Minnesota as a candidate to decline. "Health is a key reason the Timberwolves could take a slight step backward after finishing just one game out of first in the Western Conference last season," he said. "When weighing games missed by average minutes, the Timberwolves were the second-healthiest team in the NBA behind the Oklahoma City Thunder."
This is an understandable angle from Kevin. Injury luck is a crazy thing and it tends to revert to the norm, so Minnesota having more players injured in the upcoming season would probably not be a big surprise if we use this logic.
Pelton also noted how close the race in the Western Conference was this past season. "Only Oklahoma City had a better win total in the West than Minnesota, so the Timberwolves should still end up near the top of the conference. But don’t be surprised if that comes with a weaker record than they had last season," Kevin said.
Like it or not, Pelton's reasoning is sound here. He is simply referring to the law of averages in saying that the Timberwolves are probably on track to have a less healthy season in the upcoming year. Even still, it is hard to see Minnesota dropping off significantly from where they were at a season ago. Enough of the regulars from Chris Finch's rotation are returning to think that they will likely win a similar number of games in 2024-25.