Minnesota Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves are a professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Their organization is a member of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

NBA basketball returned to the Twin Cities in 1989 for the first time since the Minneapolis Lakers departed for Los Angeles in 1960 (there was an American Basketball Association franchise, the Minnesota Muskies, in 1967-68) when the NBA granted one of its four new expansion teams (the others being the Orlando Magic, Charlotte Hornets, and the Miami Heat) to original owners Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner to begin play for the 1989–90 season. They received the name "Timberwolves" as the result of a "Name that team" contest. Minnesota is home to the largest population of Timberwolves in the lower 48 states (at about 1200).

They made their debut on November 3, 1989 losing to the Seattle SuperSonics on the road 106–94. Five days later they would make their home debut at the Metrodome losing to the Chicago Bulls 96–84. Just two nights later the Wolves would get their first win, beating the Philadelphia 76ers at home 125–118 on November 10. The Timberwolves, led by Tony Campbell with 23.2 ppg, went on to a 22–60 record, finishing in 6th place in the Midwest Division. Playing in the cavernous Metrodome, the expansion Timberwolves drew over 1 million fans (an NBA record for attendance) including the 3rd-largest crowd in NBA history at 49,551 on April 17, 1990 that saw the Timberwolves lose to the Denver Nuggets 99–88 in the final home game of the season.

The next season the team moved into the Target Center and won 29 games, however they fired their head coach Bill Musselman. They didn't fare much better under Musselman's successor, ex-Celtics coach Jimmy Rodgers finishing with an NBA-worst 15–67 record. Looking to turn the corner, the Wolves hired former Detroit Pistons general manager Jack McCloskey to the same position, but even with notable first round selections such as Christian Laettner and Isaiah Rider in the 1992 and 1993 NBA Draft respectively, was unable to duplicate his "Detroit Bad Boys" success in the Twin Cities as the Wolves on-court mediocrity continued. One of the few highlights from this era was when the Target Center served as host of the 1994 All-Star Game where Rider won the Slam Dunk Contest with his between-the-leg "East Bay Funk Dunk".

As winning basketball continued to elude the Wolves, Ratner and Wolfenson nearly sold the team to New Orleans interests in 1994 before NBA owners rejected the proposed move. Eventually, Glen Taylor bought the team and named Kevin McHale general manager.