When this long, difficult, rewarding and validating Minnesota Timberwolves season came to a crashing halt Wednesday in Oklahoma City, a sullen group of players and coaches filed into the locker room to come to grips with it all.
As the team gathered, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez entered the room to wish the players well and offer encouragement in the face of defeat, a visceral reminder of the sea change that is in the process of happening with the franchise. Glen Taylor watched the final game of the season, and of his three-decade run as owner of the Timberwolves, from his home. Lore and Rodriguez, who will soon officially take full control of the team, were on site and making their presence felt.
"This is the beginning of a new chapter of sustained success," read a portion of a statement they posted on social media.
The season came to a disappointing end in a 4-1 series loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals, but these Timberwolves have redefined what qualifies as disappointment.
Forever, the Timberwolves could only hope for lottery luck at this time of year, putting all of their faith in ping-pong balls and a potential savior waiting to join them via the draft. Their savior arrived five years ago in the form of Anthony Edwards, and now the Wolves are disappointed not by where they finish in the lottery, but by how close they have come the last two years to competing for a championship.
This was a sometimes frustrating and sometimes thrilling season that started with an earthquake created by the trade of franchise player Karl-Anthony Towns to New York two days before training camp opened. The Wolves endured difficult early days while incorporating newcomers Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, but persevered through the growing pains and finished the regular season by surging to the sixth seed in the Western Conference. They beat LeBron James, Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors in the second and ultimately were drowned out by the 68-win Thunder in the conference finals.
"I think pretty rewarding is probably my encapsulation of the season, just because we went through a lot of trials and tribulations," coach Chris Finch said a day after the loss. "I'm not going to lie: It wasn't an incredibly fun season for me at times, and I don't think it was for our guys. But we always found a way to figure it out and get better, and that's always the rewarding part."
As the Timberwolves head into the summer, they will face some of the normal personnel questions that most teams do when their season ends without a championship. Three key players -- Randle, Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker -- can be free agents for a team without much spending power to replace them if they leave. Perhaps even more significantly, the franchise is about to embark on a seismic change the likes of which it has not experienced in 30 years.
Sometime toward the end of June, team sources familiar with the process told The Athletic, the league is expected to hold a final vote to approve Lore and Rodriguez as the new majority owners of the Timberwolves and Lynx. The two partners prevailed over Taylor in a February arbitration ruling, essentially ending a tense and bitter power struggle for control of the franchises.
Taylor bought the team in 1994, saving it from moving to New Orleans, and was there for the drafting of Kevin Garnett straight out of high school in 1995. The Wolves went through a long period of struggle after trading Garnett to Boston in 2007, missing the playoffs in 16 of 17 seasons and changing coaches and front-office leaders seemingly every two years.
Taylor will depart with the Wolves on much firmer ground. They have made the playoffs four straight seasons, including back-to-back conference finals appearances for the first time in franchise history and have a top-flight trio of leaders in president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, Finch and Edwards, who have injected the organization with stability and competitiveness, the likes of which it has never before displayed.
Now it is up to Lore and Rodriguez, who recruited Connelly to Minnesota three years ago, to build upon the recent run of success. They plan to be much more aggressive with their investment on the business side of the operations, including formulating plans for a new arena, team sources told The Athletic. The partners have openly stated their firm commitment to keeping the team in Minnesota, and team sources reiterated that is the long-term vision for a team that is booming in popularity locally, thanks to their playoff runs the last two seasons.
On the basketball side, things are expected to remain largely intact, team sources said. Connelly, whose trades for Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Alexander-Walker, Randle and DiVincenzo helped surround the team's young core with quality veterans to give the Wolves one of the deepest rosters in the league, can be a free agent this summer.
Last year, he pushed back an option on his contract, enabling him to see how the ownership situation played out before deciding whether to commit long term to the Wolves. Lore and Rodriguez led the charge to get Connelly from the Denver Nuggets in 2022, luring him with a lucrative financial package and the promise to empower him as much as any lead executive in the league.
Under Connelly, the Wolves became the first Minnesota men's pro team to reach the final four in two straight seasons since the old North Stars in the NHL in 1980-81. His trades for Gobert and Randle/DiVincenzo were widely criticized at the outset but validated over time as the players got acclimated to Minnesota and played pivotal roles in the franchise's rise to consistent contender status.
Now that the season is over, both sides are expected to discuss a new contract for Connelly, who received interest from the Detroit Pistons last offseason. Several other teams have been monitoring his contract situation, team sources said, to see if he becomes available, but two team sources said the Wolves are optimistic he will remain in Minnesota.
Retaining Connelly would go a long way toward establishing the organizational continuity that is so important for consistent success in the NBA. Connelly's easy-going leadership style has helped relax what could often be a nervous, downtrodden basketball operations department. Lore and Rodriguez are involved in big-picture decisions about the roster, but have entrusted Connelly to make the moves he believes are needed.
Finch, who has won more playoff games and has a better regular-season win percentage than any other coach in Wolves history, signed a contract extension during the 2024 playoffs. Edwards and Randle have been firmly in his corner, which has helped Finch hold the team accountable when things are going wrong.
"We're about to have our seventh different (NBA) champion in seven seasons. Unprecedented," Finch said. "We thought that some of these teams were on the verge of a dynasty and it didn't work out. And who knows? I like where we're placed, but we've got to keep pushing."
Despite Minnesota operating in the second apron of the salary cap this season, a team source told The Athletic that the Wolves plan to continue to be aggressive in constructing a roster around Edwards that can compete to come out of the Western Conference. The Wolves had one of the most expensive payrolls in the league this season and will pay more than $90 million in luxury taxes. But Lore and Rodriguez assembled a deep-pocketed group of limited partners and are prepared to continue to pay the luxury tax, a source said.
If a team is in the second apron for multiple years, the CBA places extreme limitations on the tools available to add talent. It is possible that the Wolves could dip below the second apron, but still be a tax-paying team next season.
Connelly is expected to reflect on the team's season and look ahead to the summer in a news conference early next week.
"I'm sure the front office will be in contact with everybody, myself included, about their strategy and what they intend to do, and it's our intention to keep everybody here," Finch said. "And they always do a great job of communicating that.
"But we've also made a trade on the eve of training camp, so going away and doing a lot of planning doesn't feel like it's necessarily helpful."
Exactly how high the payroll goes remains to be seen. One of the reasons the Wolves made the Towns trade was to reconfigure their books, getting off of a salary that will pay Towns more than $60 million in 2027-28. That allows Connelly more flexibility to add depth to the roster, veering away from the top-heavy construction that is becoming untenable under the new CBA.
They will face some potentially difficult decisions this summer with Randle and fan favorite Reid, both of whom can opt out of the final year of their deals to become free agents, and valuable bench guard Alexander-Walker, whose contract expires at the end of June.
Given the salary cap constraints, it seems likely that the most realistic path forward is for the Wolves to retain two of those three players. Alexander-Walker was one of the biggest bargains in the league this season at $4.3 million and is due a significant raise this summer.
He said on Thursday that it was too soon for him to truly start thinking about free agency, but did indicate a desire to keep the Timberwolves as an option going forward.
"For me to have this opportunity, and I love Minnesota, and what the fans have meant to me, what the team has meant to me," Alexander-Walker said. "This is the only place I've had a real opportunity to play and be the best version of myself. So, I'll definitely say yes. There's no way that I'm going to go into the offseason and X-out Minnesota. That'd be crazy."
For much of the season, it seemed likely that Randle would opt into the final year of his contract at $30.1 million next season. But he played so well down the stretch of the regular season and through the first two rounds of the playoffs that he may have earned a long-term extension with the Wolves. Then came a difficult conference finals in which he struggled mightily in the second half of Game 1, the entirety of Games 2 and 4 and the first half of Game 5.
Randle said he loves playing for Finch and playing with Edwards. He will take time to digest the season and talk with his family, but all indications are that he would like to remain in Minnesota.
"I will say that I love it here, and this is the most meaningful basketball that I've played in my career," Randle said. "And from how the organization has made me feel, from just my teammates and playing with Ant as our leader, I love it. There's a lot to be excited about.
"I haven't even really thought about it, but I will say having the ability to compete for a championship is everything that I ask for at this point in my career. So we'll see."
Reid was the Sixth Man of the Year last season and has become a cult-like figure in the Twin Cities for his rise from undrafted rookie to impact player. He will turn 26 in August and likely will get interest from several teams looking for a dynamic big. The Wolves know how valuable Reid is to the team and the community and will have discussions in hopes of retaining him, team sources said.
Reid said he views himself as a starter in this league, which could influence his next contract. If Randle and Gobert remain in Minnesota, it would be hard to envision a spot for him in the first five. But Reid also knows how much he is valued here and how competitive the Wolves have been.
"If you want to be in a winning position, sometimes you might have to sacrifice," Reid said. "So I definitely view myself as a starter, but things happen, things change. You never know what's ahead of you until you talk about it and until you go through it."
Should the Wolves lose any of the three, Connelly has constructed a deep bench filled with candidates to get time. Rookie forward Terrence Shannon Jr. acquitted himself well in the conference finals once he joined the rotation in Game 3. Jaylen Clark had some great moments this season as a defensive-minded wing and No. 8 pick Rob Dillingham is waiting in the wings for a bigger role after spending most of this season out of the rotation. Luka Garza, Josh Minott and Leonard Miller are in the mix as well.
What was clear in the Thunder series is that the Wolves need another player who can create off the dribble, get to the paint and get his own shot as well as find others. That could come in the form of Dillingham or Shannon. Maybe McDaniels' upward trajectory continues and he adds that to his game. Or they might have to go outside the organization to find it.
Conley spoke on Thursday as if he will return for a 19th season, but he is preparing for a reduced minutes load. Another point guard, whether that is Dillingham elevating or adding a veteran via free agency or trade, is imperative.
"I think my role is one that I've been willing to do anything," Conley said. "Just play any amount of minutes, start, come off the bench. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do. Whatever is best for the team."
What a roller coaster this season was in Minnesota.
On the Friday before training camp opened, the Wolves traded Towns, the center of the Wolves' universe for nine years, to New York for Randle, DiVincenzo and Detroit's first-round pick in 2025.
While many thought Towns could eventually be on the move because of his contract, few expected it to happen before the season started and coming off of the team's first run to the Western Conference finals in 20 years.
Randle and DiVincenzo were equally stunned, and the early product on the floor showed as much.
The frustration boiled over on Nov. 21 in Toronto when Gobert, furious that he wasn't getting the ball in the paint against smaller players, lingered in the lane intentionally long to draw a 3-second violation. The Wolves lost the game to fall to 8-7, and there was an intense team meeting after the game where grievances were aired.
It took the Wolves several months to figure things out. They were 8-10 on Thanksgiving, 14-14 on Christmas Eve and 22-21 in late January.
The more time they spent around each other, the more they started to connect. Gobert and Randle talked often while both were out with injuries in February.
"We want to see each other win," Gobert said earlier in the playoffs. "I was telling Julius after the game, you've got a lot of disrespect your whole career and so do I. It's a good opportunity for us to write our own narrative. Winning does that."
The Wolves finished the regular season 17-4 to climb from the Play-In field to that No. 6 seed. They cruised past the Lakers, 4-1, in the first round, then took advantage of Stephen Curry's injury in Game 1 of the second round and beat the Warriors, 4-1.
Randle was a revelation, averaging 23.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists through the first two rounds. Edwards showed a mastery of clutch time that had eluded him in the regular season. McDaniels was a two-way demon.
The Wolves celebrated overcoming all of the early season sludge to get back to the conference finals, as they should have. This is a franchise that was synonymous with losing for so long. But with Connelly, Finch and Edwards leading the way, a new level of consistency and competency is upon them.
That's what made Game 5 in Oklahoma City so disappointing. A team that has prided itself on responding with force when its back is against the wall completely crumbled in the biggest moment of the season.
The Thunder proved to be the deeper, smarter and more consistent team. They are also younger than the Wolves, meaning they will continue to be an obstacle going forward. The bar has been set.
As satisfying as it was for the Wolves to make it this far, it is also clear that they still have a long way to go if they are to take that final step. Few expected them to make a return appearance in the conference finals when the season began. Once they got there, few expected them to go out as meekly as they did.
As they enter the unfamiliar territory of contender status, the expectations rise. The urgency rises as well.
After Game 5, Finch said it is possible that all 15 teams in the Western Conference will enter next season competing for the playoffs. The path will only get thornier from here. The Wolves have much to celebrate and many questions to answer.
"This point in time, you want to go further," Finch said, "but we've got to try to lay a foundation where we can keep learning."
A critical summer awaits.