He shoots! He scores! The Minnesota Timberwolves are a professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their organization is a member of National Basketball Association (NBA). The home arena to the Timberwolves is the Target Center Minneapolis. The Minnesota Timberwolves were founded in 1989 and the Timberwolves owner is Glen Taylor, and the Wolves general manager is Jim Stack.

Professional basketball in the Twin Cities returned in 1987, when the NBA granted one of its two new expansion teams to original owners Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner to begin play for the 1989-90 NBA season. The Minnesota Timberwolves debuted on November 3, 1989. The Wolves lost to the Seattle SuperSonics on the road 106 – 94. Five days later the Timberwolves made their home debut at the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome Minneapolis losing to the Chicago Bulls 96 – 84. Just two nights later, the T-Wolves won their first game against the Philadelphia 76ers at home 125-118 on November 10, 1989. The T-Wolves, led by Tony Campbell with 23.2 ppg, went on to a 22-60 record, finishing the NBA Midwest Division in 6th place. Playing in the Metrodome, the expansion T-Wolves drew over 1 million fans including the third largest crowd in NBA history at 49,551 on April 17, 1990 that saw the Minnesota Timberwolves lose to the Denver Nuggets 99 – 88 in the final home game of the season.

The next Timberwolves season, the team moved to the Target Center Minneapolis and won 29 games, but they fired their head coach Bill Musselman. They did not do much better under ex-Celtics coach Jimmy Rodgers finishing with an NBA-worst of 15 – 67 record. Over the next several years/seasons, the Timberwolves franchise encountered mediocrity and even a near relocation in 1994 before NBA owners rejected the team’s move to New Orleans. Glen Taylor bought the team and named Kevin McHale Timberwolves general manager.

In 1995, the T-Wolves selected Kevin Garnett in the draft, and Flip Saunders became coach. Christian Laettner was traded with Sean Rooks to the Atlanta Hawks for Andrew Lang and Spud Webb. Golden State Warriors’ forward Tom Gugliotta took the place of Donyell Marshall who was traded the previous season. Garnett went on to average 10.4 ppg in his rookie season as the Timberwolves finished in 5th place in the Midwest Division, with a 26-56 record.

In 1996, the Minnesota TimberWolves added a star player by swapping Ray Allen to the Milwaukee Bucks for the rights to Stephon Marbury, the 4th overall NBA draft pick. Marbury had a positive effect on the entire Timberwolves team, as Kevin Garnett and Tom Gugliotta became the first T-Wolves to be selected to the All-Star team. Gugliotta and Garnett led the T-Wolves in scoring as the team made the NBA playoffs for the first time with a record of 40-42. However, after soon entering the playoffs, the Timberwolves made a quick exit as they were swept by the Houston Rockets in three straight games. The Minnesota Timberwolves decided to change their image by changing their team logo and colors, adding black to the original Timberwolves colors of forest green, blue and silver and replacing the original wolf logo with a logo featuring a snarling wolf looming over a field of trees. It was also during that season that Minnesota began to play on the parquet floor also used by the Boston Celtics and the Orlando Magic in every home game at the Target Center.

Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury established themselves as two of the brightest rising stars in NBA in 1997. Garnett averaged 18.5 ppg and 9.6 rebounds per game, while Marbury averaged 17.7 ppg and dished out 8.6 assists per game. That season the T-Wolves went on to post their first winning NBA season at 45-37 making the playoffs for the second straight season. On the road after Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA playoffs, the Minnesota Timberwolves earned their first postseason win in Game 2 winning in Seattle 98 – 93. As the NBA Playoff series shifted to Minnesota, the Wolves used the opportunity to pull off the upset as they won Game 3 by a score of 98 – 90. The Timberwolves then dropped Game 4 at home as the Seattle SuperSonics went on to win the NBA playoff series in five games.

In 1998, the Minnesota Timberwolves were used as the poster child of irresponsible spending as the NBA endured a 4-month lockout that wiped out the season. With an already cap-heavy payroll the T-Wolves were forced to let Tom Gugliotta walk away and trade Stephon Marbury fearing both would seek deals similar to Kevin Garnett’s deal. The Minnesota Timberwolves again made the NBA playoffs for the third straight season by finishing in 4th place with a 25-25 record. The Wolves were beaten by the San Antonio Spurs in four games of the NBA playoffs that year.

In 1999, the Minnesota Timberwolves drafted Wally Szczerbiak. He had a solid season finishing 3rd on the team in scoring with 11.6 ppg. Led by Kevin Garnett, who averaged 22.9 ppg and 11.8 rebounds per game, the MN Timberwolves enjoyed their first 50-win season finishing 3rd place with a solid record of 50-32. The Wolves fell in the first round of the NBA playoffs losing to Portland TrailBlazers in four games.

In the summer of 2000, Timberwolf guard Malik Sealy was killed in a car accident. A free agent deal also signed by Joe Smith was voided by the NBA, who ruled that the Timberwolves violated proper procedure in the signing of the contract. The Wolves were stripped of five draft picks, fined $3.5 million and general manager Kevin McHale suspended for one year. The T-Wolves made the NBA playoffs for the fifth straight season with a 47-35 record, despite the trouble. In the first round of the NBA playoffs, again, the Minnesota Timberwolves fell against the San Antonio Spurs in four games in the spring of 2001.

2002-03 seemed to look up for the MN Wolves. Kevin Garnett had a great season, finishing second in MVP voting while averaging a solid 23.0 ppg and 13.4 rebounds per game as the Timberwolves finished in 3rd place with a 51-31 record. The LA Lakers beat the T-Wolves and won the series in six games, as the Wolves were eliminated in the first round o9f the NBA Playoffs for the seventh straight year.

During the 2003-04 NBA season, the Minnesota Timberwolves became the team to beat in the Western Conference, traded away forward Joe Smith and injured guard Terrell Brandon in a multi-player deal for Ervin Johnson, Sam Cassell and embattled guard Latrell Sprewell. The T-Wolves finished the season as the top seed in the Western Conference with a record of 58-24 and they beat the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings in the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers, the previous Minnesota franchise, in the Western Conference Finals. Kevin Garnett finally earned his first MVP award with 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.

In 2004-05 season, the Timberwolves roster looked the same except the team was plagued with contract disputes and the complaining of key players, Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell, and Troy Hudson. Flip Saunders was replaced mid-season by general manager Kevin McHale, who took over the team for the rest of the season. The Minnesota Timberwolves finished 44-38 and missed the NBA playoffs for the first time in eight years. On June 17, 2005, the Minnesota Timberwolves hired Dwane Casey as head coach. Casey was the Timberwolves seventh head coach in their 16-year history. On January 26, 2006 the Wolves traded forward Wally Szczerbiak, centers Dwayne Jones and Michael Olowokandi, and a future first-round NBA draft pick to the Boston Celtics. In return, they received forward/guard Ricky Davis, center Mark Blount, forward Justin Reed, guard Marcus Banks and two second-round draft picks. The T-Wolves finished 33-49 missing the NBA playoffs for the second consecutive year.

In the 2006 NBA draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected future Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy with the 6th overall pick, Craig Smith with the 36th pick, Booby Jones with the 37th pick and center Loukas Mavrokefalidis with the 57th pick. On January 23, general manager Kevin McHale fired head coach Dwane Casey and replaced him with Randy Wittman. McHale explained in a news conference that it was inconsistency by Casey that led to the firing. Casey had compiled an overall record of 53-69. The Wolves finished with a record of 32-50 in the 2006-07 season, allowing them to keep their 2007 first-round pick.

Over the years the Minnesota Timberwolves have been a fun team to watch at the Target Center and Minnesota Timberwolves tickets have become a hot Minneapolis ticket. So if you are planning on going to an NBA Timberwolves game with family or friends, plan ahead a get your Timberwolves tickets today and enjoy the next T-Wolves game!!