D'Angelo Russell has been playing some good basketball since returning from injury on April 5, despite the Timberwolves' season being lost cause. Still, the team is actually 10-9 in that span and has seen Russell post impressive numbers (18.9 points, 6.6 assists on .439/.390/.809 shooting) over those 19 games as part of the core trio that also includes Karl-Anthony Towns (25.5 points, 9.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists on .490/.404/.840 in same span) and Anthony Edwards (22.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists on .462/.355/.742 in same span). Could this be the trio of the future? It's really hard to say based on this rollercoaster of a year, but a whole season in full health under head coach Chris Finch might mean that this iteration of the Timberwolves could finally be the one that holds some sort of answer as to how the franchise can find success again.
But, again, this season is a lost cause. They're 22-47, which is the sixth-worst record in the NBA, and the primary goal that should be on their radar is getting the best draft pick possible. The play-in tournament incentivizes teams to stay competitive for as long as possible, but we're a little past that point in Minnesota, and it would be heartbreaking if they lost their first-round pick to Golden State as per the terms of the D'Angelo Russell trade. If the Timberwolves were to get the No. 4 pick in the lottery and subsequently surrender it to the Warriors after such a rough season, it would be the equivalent of... oh, I don't know, sitting down on something that you think is a chair, but that isn't a chair, and falling hard on your backside as a result.
Ah, yes. I can see the GIFs taking over Twitter already when that ends up being the way the lottery plays out, and Russell's chair/no-chair mishap would be just the perfect representation of how the fan base would feel. After all, it was the acquisition of Russell in exchange for Andrew Wiggins and a 2021 first-rounder that put Minnesota in this situation to begin with, dangling a top-three protected pick that the Warriors would be happy to snatch away. The three remaining games in the Timberwolves' schedule — home matchups against the Nuggets, Celtics and Mavericks — are all ones which they should lose and, more importantly, should want to lose. They'll also need the Cavaliers, Thunder, Magic and Pistons to start winning some games down the stretch, though Minnesota's victories against Orlando and Detroit in their two most recent outings doesn't exactly help.
Then again, it's not like finishing with the third-worst record as opposed to the sixth-worst record is a dramatic difference in terms of how it impacts their chances of retaining their draft pick. As Kyle Ratke says, though, "every percentage counts" when weighing the difference of a top-three draft pick in a class with names like Cade Cunningham, Jalen Suggs, Jalen Green and Evan Mobley, and the lack of a draft pick altogether.
Whatever. The team is having fun, they're showing signs of an explosive, difficult-to-contain offense that ranks in the top half of the league since Russell's return (115.7 offensive rating), and they're creating viral moments — whether they're for highlight dunks or epic fails.
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