Ranking the 4 riskiest boom-or-bust NBA teams in 2023–24

NBA Team #1: Minnesota Timberwolves

The Timberwolves face a similar problem as the Mavericks and 76ers. They went all in on an All-Star they believed to be the missing piece to their title contention. Instead, they gave up pretty much all they had to give for Rudy Gobert and ended up having a meh season with more downs than ups.

Gobert was supposed to fix the Timberwolves’ defensive and rebounding issues, but the offensive fit was clunky at best, especially with franchise players Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards. To be fair, they never got much of a chance to figure things out because Towns missed so much time, but for a while there, it seemed like they were better off with Naz Reid as the only big on the floor.

Things got better when the Timberwolves essentially traded D’Angelo Russell for Mike Conley, who managed to organize the offense some more and unlock Gobert and Jaden McDaniels offensively. Conley alone, however, was not enough to save the Timberwolves. Their season eventually ended on an embarrassing note. Gobert punched teammate Kyle Anderson, McDaniels punched a wall, they barely made it out of the play-in tournament, and despite Edwards’ best efforts, he barely put up a fight against the Nuggets.

While it was definitely concerning, the season could be chalked up to bad injury luck and a lack of time to figure everything out. Next season, however, has to go much better. The Timberwolves doubled down on their frontcourt-heavy roster. They are paying Gobert, Towns, and Reid handsomely, and Edwards just signed a massive extension. So much money spent on All-Star caliber players in Gobert, Towns, Conley, and Edwards, as well as two promising youngsters in McDaniels and Reid, should at least lead them past the second round.

Getting Gobert was a win-now move. So far, it has not led to many wins yet, and if that does not change soon, the trade will go down as a terrible move as well as send the Timberwolves into a frantic rebuild mode. Most of their assets are gone, and it might be difficult to move on from Gobert. They would pretty much have no other choice but to part ways with Towns and retool around Edwards and Gobert.