NEW ORLEANS: Take that, Timberwolves! With a 9-3 record, Minnesota leads the Western Conference alone after defeating the Pelicans on Saturday night in New Orleans, where they fell behind by 14 points in the fourth quarter.
The resume is also of high quality: They have defeated the four teams that participated in the previous two NBA Finals five times.
This sets Minnesota apart from a number of other teams that are in a similar situation early in the season: those with rosters that are supposedly built for “win-now,” but who aren’t actually winning all that much. It matters for the Timberwolves not only because of all the picks they owe Utah from the Rudy Gobert trade, but also because a big obstacle to keeping the team together in a year is the impending luxury tax situation.
As you will see in a moment, they have lots of company. So far this season, the overarching theme has been teams coming to a crossroads in their payroll trajectory where they have to justify their continued togetherness.
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