The Vikings (and Wild and Twins) Can’t Do What the 2023-2025 Timberwolves Are Doing
This isn’t exactly a complaint about the Vikings; it’s quite refreshing to see what the Minnesota Timberwolves have been accomplishing under head coach Chris Finch and with efforts from players like Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert.
In 2024, the club made the NBA’s Western Conference Finals and were ousted in five games by the then-Luka Doncic-led Dallas Mavericks. Now, they’ve ousted the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs and will play the Golden State Warriors.
So far, in this run from the 2024 NBA Playoffs to the early rounds of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, the Timberwolves have eliminated names like Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Nikola Jokic, Lebron James, and Luka Doncic (with the Lakers in 2025), and are looking to potentially add Steph Curry to that list in round two.
This means it’ll be back-to-back years of deep runs for these Timberwolves, who hadn’t won a playoff series before 2024 since 2004, and have only won three playoff series in the last two seasons (so far) when they’ve won five total in the franchise’s history.
That’s exactly what the Timberwolves are now doing consistently that the Vikings, Twins, and Wild can’t: win multiple playoff games in one year, let alone win one. The Vikings haven’t won a playoff game since 2019, haven’t made it past the second round since 2017 (off of a literal miracle), and have only won five total playoff games since the turn of the millennium in 2000.
The Vikings still have had better luck in the playoffs than their Minnesotan MLB and NHL counterparts; the Twins have only won one playoff series since 2002 and only have 13 playoff appearances since 1970 (granted, their World Series wins in 1987 and 1991 that make them the only Minnesotan major sports team to ever win a championship gives them a slight pass) and the Wild just got ousted by the Vegas Golden Knights in six games in the first round of the 2024-2025 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, marking their 8th consecutive first-round exit from the postseason.
Again, all of the credit in the world and all of the flowers that bloom in the state of Minnesota should be given to the Minnesota Timberwolves and planted in Target Arena. What they are building there is truly special and is a glass of ice water in hell for Minnesota major sports fans. It’s just tough to accept the fact that all of the other teams have such good infrastructure and talent, just like the T-Wolves, but can’t win consistently or at all in their respective leagues’ postseasons.
The Twins have started slow this season, but the Wild are now officially out of cap hell from Ryan Suter and Zach Parise’s buyouts, and the Vikings have one of the best infrastructures and cultures in their league. Neither the Vikings nor the Wild feels far off at all from contending late in the year consistently and match what the Timberwolves have accomplished to this point.
Of course, the breaks might have to be pumped a little since the Wolves haven’t won a championship yet, and maybe it’s just because we’re in the middle of their playoff run, but it’s quite clear that they have the best chance to bring the state of Minnesota the World Championship they’ve so desperately been yearning for since 1991 when the Twins won the World Series.
With the Vikings and Wild knocking on the door of being legitimate contenders for the next decade, it’s potentially only a matter of time before the rest of the state’s major sports offerings follow the black and blue suit.
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