Minnesota opened the standings at 2-0 and sits fourth in the West on October 25. The Wolves beat the Heat on the road on October 21 and the Magic on the road on October 23.
Read the full story5 more paragraphs
The Heat game was a rout, 131-106. Anthony Edwards had 19 points in the listed score line, and Jaden McDaniels added 13. A separate milestone note credits Edwards with 45 points at Heat, and the two numbers do not match. The Magic game was 115-93, with McDaniels and Edwards both at 15 points. After the Heat win the Wolves stood 1-0 and third in the West. They were fifth after the Magic game, then first on October 24 at 2-0. By October 25 they were fourth. The power rankings moved with them. They jumped from 10th to 4th in a week, then to 3rd on October 24.
The roster question from last time is settled. On October 17, Hoopsrumors reported that the Wolves waived five players and opened a two-way slot, without names. On October 18 the names came out: KJ Martin, Norchad Omier, Antonio Reeves, Drew Timme and Enrique Freeman all left the team. That ends the Timme-Martin competition for a roster spot. Neither won it. The roster now lists 16 players, including Joan Beringer, Cody Williams, Terrence Shannon Jr and Zyon Pullin.
The other big item came on October 19. Hoopsrumors reported that the Timberwolves and McDaniels agreed to a one-year extension. No other terms have been reported. McDaniels then scored 13 and 15 in the two wins. On October 24, a Northwest Notes roundup grouped Beringer, McDaniels, Lillard, Morant and Hardy together. It gave no specifics on Minnesota.
The injury report has been much quieter. The heavy run of rest designations from October 16 mostly cleared the next day. The only new entry since is Rocco Zikarsky. He was listed day-to-day on October 20 and cleared the same day. Gobert and McDaniels went back to day-to-day on October 17. McDaniels has played since. No later status change has been reported for Gobert.
Jonathan Kuminga is still on the roster. On September 12, Jon Krawczynski reported that Kuminga called the Wolves' recruiting pitch "real." What that pitch offered has never been reported. No Kuminga scoring line has appeared in the two wins. Hoopsrumors flagged basketball-staff changes on September 26, and there is still no detail on them. A Fischer roundup on October 21 named several players and teams but none from Minnesota.
Open storylines
as of Sun, Oct 25Hoopsrumors reported a one-year extension on October 19, but no salary or other details have followed.
Gobert went back to day-to-day on October 17 after clearing, and no later update has been reported.
The result line lists 19 points for Edwards at Heat on October 21, while a milestone note says 45.
Kuminga called the Wolves' pitch "real" on September 12, and what it offered is still unreported.
Hoopsrumors' September 26 report on staff updates still has no detail on what changed.
The projection
all 30 teams →The season depends most on Donte DiVincenzo (12.5 wins without him), LaMelo Ball (9.3 wins without him), Rudy Gobert (7.2 wins without him), Bones Hyland (2.0 wins without him) and Anthony Edwards (0.6 wins without him): on/off from 2026-27, details under Injuries. Computed Sun, Oct 25; the method is on the methods page.
The race
Western Conference · 80 games leftNext 5: vs Raptors100%at Cavaliers50%vs Warriors0%vs Clippers50%at Spurs33%opponents win 47% of their games on average
Standings and games back are from the official table; the pace is the current record carried over 82 games, nothing more.
Day by day
32 days on the recordEarlier on the record28 more days · back to Tue, Sep 8
The franchise
Every season since the start →Public record →Nowupdated 2026-10-19
Chris Finch enters his sixth full season as head coach of a team built around Anthony Edwards, the No. 1 pick from 2020 who averaged 28.8 points last season, and Jaden McDaniels, drafted 28th that same year. Rudy Gobert, acquired from Utah in 2022 and signed to a three-year, $110 million extension in October 2024, still anchors the defense. Last season the Timberwolves went 49-33, ranked 10th in net rating, 13th on offense and 8th on defense, beat Denver in six games in the first round, then lost to San Antonio 4-2 in the conference semifinals. This summer brought the biggest shake-up yet: on July 10, 2026, Minnesota traded Naz Reid and Mouhamadou Gueye to Charlotte for LaMelo Ball and Josh Green, while sending Julius Randle to Brooklyn in a four-team deal. Donte DiVincenzo, who arrived in the 2024 Karl-Anthony Towns trade, stays in the backcourt mix alongside Ayo Dosunmu and new arrival Jonathan Kuminga. Payroll sits at $215.3 million, above the $209.0 million first apron, with Edwards ($48.9M), Ball ($40.8M), Gobert ($36.5M) and McDaniels ($26.2M) the four biggest numbers. The Wolves owe or must swap first-round picks in 2027 and 2028 and carry protections on their 2029 and 2030 firsts.
Identity and rivalries129 words
This is a defense-built team that reached back-to-back conference finals in 2024 and 2025 on the strength of Gobert's rim protection and McDaniels' length on the wing, even as last season's defense slipped to 8th in the league. Edwards has become the engine, carrying the offense through a 61-game, 28.8-point season. Denver is the rival that keeps reappearing: a 2023 first-round loss, a Game 7 conference-semifinal escape in 2024, and the six-game upset of the Nuggets in the 2026 first round. Oklahoma City is the measuring stick that beat them 4-1 in the 2025 Western Conference finals on its way to the title. Every postseason matchup with either team now carries the weight of whether Minnesota can finally get past the round that has stopped it two years running.
Home, owners and numbers96 words
The Timberwolves play at Target Center in Minneapolis. Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, who first agreed to buy the franchise in 2021, won an arbitration ruling in February 2025 confirming their right to take over, and Glen Taylor declined to appeal in April 2025, clearing the way for their full control; Michael Bloomberg joined their ownership group in June 2024. Kevin Garnett's No. 21 went unworn by any other Timberwolves player during his years away before he put it back on himself in 2015, a marker of how the franchise still measures itself against his era.
What they are chasing120 words
Minnesota is chasing its first trip to the NBA Finals after two straight conference finals appearances fell short, including a 2025 loss to the eventual champion Thunder and last season's exit against San Antonio in the semifinals. The roster overhaul that brought in LaMelo Ball and sent out Julius Randle and Naz Reid raises an open question fans are already arguing about: whether Ball's game fits a team that has won by playing defense first. The front office is also operating above the first apron at $215.3 million against a $209.0 million threshold, with first-round picks tied up in swaps through 2028, leaving little room to maneuver if this core doesn't get past where it stalled the last two years.
The long view463 words
The Minnesota Timberwolves joined the NBA as an expansion team granted on April 22, 1987, alongside the Orlando Magic, Charlotte Hornets, and Miami Heat, with original owners Harvey Ratner and Marv Wolfenson. City councils across Minnesota picked the name "Timberwolves" over "Polars" by nearly 2-1, made official January 23, 1987. The team debuted November 3, 1989, losing to the Seattle SuperSonics 106-94, played its first season at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, and moved into Target Center in 1990, drawing a then-record crowd of 49,551 for a home finale against Denver. Early years were rough: a league-worst 15-67 under Jimmy Rodgers in 1991-92, followed by seasons of 19-63 and 20-62 under GM Jack McCloskey, whose draft picks included Christian Laettner and Isaiah Rider. A near-move to New Orleans in 1994 was stopped when Edward Villaume raised $88.5 million and recruited Glen Taylor as lead investor to keep the team in Minnesota; Kevin McHale became general manager.
The 1995 draft of Kevin Garnett, under new coach Flip Saunders, changed the franchise. Garnett and Stephon Marbury, acquired in a 1996 trade for the rights that sent Ray Allen to Milwaukee, powered eight straight playoff berths from 1997 to 2004. Garnett made the All-Star team repeatedly, averaging as high as 23.0 points and 13.4 rebounds in 2002-03, when he finished second in MVP voting. The Wolves lost in the first round seven straight years, including a six-game defeat to the three-time champion Lakers in 2003, before general manager Kevin McHale and VP Rob Babcock built a roster around Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell, and Ervin Johnson for 2003-04. That team went 58-24, the top seed in the West, won the franchise's first division championship, and reached the Western Conference Finals, with Garnett named NBA MVP and First Team All-NBA.
The franchise also carries a memorial: guard Malik Sealy was killed by a drunk driver in the summer of 2000, and his number 2 remains the only number the Timberwolves have retired.
After 2004, the team missed the playoffs starting in 2005 and traded Garnett to the Boston Celtics in 2007. Garnett returned in a February 2015 trade, finishing his career in Minnesota before retiring in the 2016 offseason. The playoff drought that followed his departure lasted 14 years, ending in 2018. The current era began with the number one overall pick of Anthony Edwards in 2020 and the 2021 hiring of head coach Chris Finch, a pairing that has produced four straight playoff appearances and two consecutive trips to the Western Conference Finals.
Ownership changed hands again in 2025, when Glen Taylor completed the sale of the Timberwolves to Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, an agreement dating to 2021, unanimously approved by the NBA Board of Governors in June 2025 at a purchase price of $1.5 billion.