For much of their history, the Minnesota Timberwolves weren’t synonymous with playing on Christmas. As a matter of fact, they didn’t get a December 25 game until 2016, their 28th season as a franchise. Their all-time best player, Kevin Garnett, never got to play on the holiday while donning a Minnesota jersey.
Since then, they have played twice more (2017 and 2024). They own a 2-1 record when playing on the holiday. Here are the single-game Christmas Day records by Minnesota players in major statistical categories. Will any get broken today in the Timberwolves' Christmas matchup with the Nuggets?
Points - Karl-Anthony Towns (26 - 2016), Anthony Edwards (26 - 2024)
This record seems like it can be broken this year (likely would be by Edwards). Last year, Ant-Man scored 26 in the Wolves’ 105-99 victory over the Mavericks. It took the superstar 24 shots to reach that point total, but Edwards did connect on 4 of his 7 3-point tries (did not attempt a free throw).
In their first-ever Christmas game, a young Towns (just in his second year) also scored 26. It came in a 112-100 loss, though, to the Thunder. Towns had eight points apiece in each of the first three quarters.
Rebounds - Karl-Anthony Towns (10 - 2017), Rudy Gobert (10 - 2024), Julius Randle (10 - 2024)
This feels like another category that could see a new single-game leader on Christmas Day for the Timberwolves franchise. The most likely candidate to topple it, of course, is Gobert. His 11.1 rebounds per game this season are currently the fifth-most in the league. In his last six outings, Gobert has averaged 15 boards with at least 12 in each contest.
Assists - Ricky Rubio (10 - 2016), Jeff Teague (2017)
This category seems less likely to have a new leader by the end of Christmas evening. Randle leads the team with 5.5 per game, and nobody else on the team averages 3.8 or more. The Timberwolves have seen just three instances where a player has reached a double-digit assist total this season (all by Randle).
Blocks - Karl-Anthony Towns (4 - 2017)
Three of Towns’ four blocks came in the fourth quarter in Minnesota’s 2017 Christmas Day win over the Lakers. The only other player to have more than one block on Christmas for the Wolves is Gobert, with two last year. Gobert leads the team this season with 1.5 rejections per contest and has two outings with at least four.