The Minnesota Timberwolves are still looking for their first trip to the NBA Finals. Meanwhile, many of the franchise’s best players of all-time have not only made the finals with another team, but they also have won it all with them, including Kevin Garnett, Kevin Love, and Andrew Wiggins.
Karl-Anthony Towns is just another example of a former Timberwolves great that has a chance to do so. In his second year with the New York Knicks, the team is now in the finals, four wins away from taking home the title.
Anthony Edwards is still signed for the next three seasons. People will always speculate whether a star player wants off a team that isn't quite able to reach the mountaintop, but there has been no evidence at all that Edwards wants off the Timberwolves anytime soon.
With Towns potentially set to join this list of former Timberwolves stars to win titles elsewhere, the hope has to be that later in his career, Ant doesn't join them.
Kevin GarnettÂ
The best player in team history, Garnett, played his first 12 seasons with the Wolves. As incredible as he was (2003-04 MVP), in just 1 of those years did the team even win a playoff series. In July of 2007, Minnesota traded him to the Boston Celtics in exchange for five players and two first-round picks.
With Boston also adding Ray Allen in the 2007 offseason, the Celtics won a title in Garnett’s first year with the team. In that season, KG was named Defensive Player of the Year and finished third in MVP voting.
Kevin Love
The Timberwolves didn’t finish with a winning record in any of Love’s six seasons with the club from 2008-09 until 2013-14, but the power forward was a double-double machine. With Minnesota, he was named to 3 All-Star teams and was the league’s Most Improved Player in 2010-11.
In 2014, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers to join forces with a returning LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. In his second year with the team, Cleveland completed a 3-1 series comeback by winning the last 3 games against the 73-win Golden State Warriors.
Andrew WigginsÂ
Acquired in the Love trade after being taken first overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, Wiggins came into the league with high expectations. He never quite lived up to them, but he was still named Rookie of the Year in 2014-15 and averaged more than 20 points per outing twice with the team (not counting the 22.4 he averaged in 2019-20 with Minnesota before being dealt at the trade deadline).
Wiggins was traded to the Warriors, who went on to win it all in his second full year with them alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson. That season also saw the 6-6 forward make his first and only All-Star appearance.
Anthony Edwards hopefully won’t be the nextÂ
Garnett, Love, and Towns would be on the team’s Mount Rushmore for most fans. The first two won a championship after leaving, and Towns is four wins from also doing so.
The one player also on the team’s Mount Rushmore is, of course, Ant-Man. Turning 25 on August 5, he still has his whole prime awaiting him. Edwards is eligible for an extension in the offseason, but it shouldn't be seen as a possibility that he wants off the team when he doesn't take it. That is because he can make substantially more by waiting a year to sign off on an extension.
Edwards has been the leader of what is the most successful era in franchise history. The Timberwolves have won five playoff series over the last three years. They won just two in their first 34 years of existence. While he has a while to go to catch Garnett as the best player in team history, allowing Minnesota to hang their first-ever championship banner would go a long way in allowing him the chance to do so.
Tim Connelly will continue to do the work to ensure that Ant remains happy in Minneapolis. Let’s hope that at some point, Edwards bucks this trend and becomes the franchise guy to win a title while with the Timberwolves.
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