After a new losing season, the Minnesota Timberwolves already have to their credit the unpleasant distinction of having become the worst team in NBA history, after surpassing franchises such as the Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Hornets. .
While controversial owner
Donald Sterling's
Clippers
left their losing team legacy behind since they were bought by billionaire
Steve Ballmer
, the Kings came to take their place as the worst in NBA history, shared with the Hornets, until this season, the Timberwolves broke all negative marks.
Some might look at the Timberwolves' record and say they had a similar run to the Kings in the early 2000s and even reached a Western Conference final in 2004, and
newer
power forward
Kevin Garnett
. Hall of Fame, he was named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP).
But the hiatus from the 2004 season, when they went 58-24, has not been enough to overcome the accumulation of errors with draft picks and player changes during the 30 years of their existence in the NBA.
The Timberwolves had another two seasons with 50 or more wins (2001-2002 and 2002-2003), but managed to win only two playoff rounds, both in 2004, and outside of the eight postseason appearances during the Garnett era of 1997. -2004, they have done it one more time, in 2018.
While they have managed to finish above 50 percent only eight times in their history.
Their losing mark of 1003-1545 has the worst percentage among the 30 NBA teams at 39.4%, while the number of victories leaves them at 27th place, beating the Pelicans (704), Memphis Grizzlies (864) and Toronto Raptors (982), but they all have better overall percentage and winning average.
The Timberwolves are also 18-34 all-time in the playoffs (34.6%), minus 2004 where they were 8-8, they are only 10-26 for a 27.7 winning percentage, which is equally the worst in NBA history.
The illegal signing of Joe Smith
One of the most famous events that has happened to the franchise, and probably the catalyst for it to be the worst in the history of the NBA, was the illegal signing of the exala-pivot
Joe Smith
that they made with secret agreements between both parties, which They violated league rules and when the NBA found out, they annulled the contract.
The Timberwolves were also suspended and ran out of first-round selection rights to go into free fall since then, which they accentuated with meaningless signings and transfers such as
Garnett
to the Boston Celtics and center
Al Jefferson
to the Utah Jazz, without receiving barely compensation.
Worse was selecting
Ray Allen
with number five in the 1996 college draft and selling his rights to the Milwaukee Bucks to host point guard
Stephon Marbury
, who barely lasted two seasons with them.
The Timberwolves used their rights to number five in the 2009 college drawing to land
Ricky Rubio
, compared to the legendary Pete Maravich.
The El Masnou player has had a good NBA career, but has never been an All-Star and is, at best, the worst starter on an average playoff team.
After Rubio's arrival, the Timberwolves let players like
DeMarcus Cousins, Gordan Hayward, Paul George, Eric Bledsoe and Avery Bradley
escape in subsequent draws
.
Although more devastating was seeing them let through guard
Klay Thompson
, forward
Kawai Leonard
, Greek power forward
Giannis Antetokounmpo
and French center
Rudy Gobert
, all of them All-Stars.
As has happened with guard
Zach LaVine
and forward
Jimmy Butler
, who were part of exchanges and transfers made by the Timberwolves without receiving anything special.
It is still too early to know if the last selections are going to turn out well, the Dominican American center
Karl Anthony Towns
seems to be the best player in Minnesota since Garnett.
If the incompetence in the university draw has been complete on the part of the Timberwolves executives, when it comes to developing talent they have not been very successful either and only Garnett, the American Spanish forward
Wally Szczerbiak
, power forward
Kevin Love
and Towns arrived to the All-Star Party.
It is true that losing is as important a part of basketball as winning, but some teams do the former much more frequently than the latter, as is the case of the Timberwolves, which due to their own mistakes, in 2021, have become the new "losing kings" in NBA history.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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