NBA History: The best era for each of the 30 franchises

Minnesota Timberwolves: 1996-04

It’s not very often the entire relevance of an NBA franchise circles around a single player, but that’s more or less the case with the relationship between Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Garnett was drafted fifth overall in 1995 straight out of high school, quite the risk for an expansion franchise with little success during their first five years of play. The Wolves had yet to make the playoffs or even crack 30 wins. Their latest project didn’t do much as a rookie, but it was year two that saw him rise to prominence and take Minnesota along for the ride.

The 1996-97 campaign began a string of eight consecutive playoff appearances for the Timberwolves, and at the center of it all was their two-way superstar doing just about everything to help his team win.

From a historical perspective, The Big Ticket is the franchise’s all-time leader in — among other categories — points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. It was a draft-night gamble that paid off for Minnesota, allowing it to gain legitimate NBA traction.

Unfortunately, making the postseason was usually where the magic stopped for the Wolves. They amassed seven consecutive first-round exits, never even pushing a series the distance.

The 2003-04 campaign was the peak of the Garnett era. Not only would it be the final postseason outing for Minnesota during that time, starting an unfortunate playoff-less streak that lasted 13 seasons.

Garnett was named league MVP in 2004. Sam Cassell made his first and only All-Star appearance. Along with Latrell Sprewell, they pushed the Wolves to the Western Conference Finals, where not even a four-game loss to the Los Angeles Lakers could burst the joyous bubbles of those with little to take pride in before the arrival of the future Hall of Famer.