The Minnesota Timberwolves entered their 2024-25 campaign in a weird position. Last September 28th, less than a month before season kicked off, they traded their multiple-time All-Star and longtime franchise big man Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a protected first-round pick. It was only an okay-at-best return for their prized center, and mostly confusing since the team just established a ton of promise after coming off a Western Conference Finals appearance–the franchise’s first in 20 years.

But, it is what it is, and crazier trades have happened.

With all the lingering momentum, the T-Wolves were able to ride the energy to start out 6-3 through their first nine outings, which even included a win over West elite Denver Nuggets. Unfortunately, that’s when things took a terrible turn.

Fast forward to today, just 19 days, Minnesota has lost seven of their last nine, including four-straight, with the vibes getting bleakier by the day.

• NOV. 11 vs. MIA – 95-94 (L)
• NOV. 13 vs. POR – 122-108 (L)
• NOV. 14 vs. POR – 106-98 (L)
• NOV. 16 vs. SAC – 130-126 (W)
• NOV. 18 vs. PHO – 120-117 (W)
• NOV. 22 vs. TOR – 110-105 (L)
• NOV. 25 vs. BOS – 107-105 (L)
• NOV. 27 vs. HOU – 117-111 (L)
• NOV. 28 vs. SAC – 115-104 (L)

Minny has fallen into an 8-10 slate, paling in comparison to the ‘23-24 team that went 14-4 through the first 18 games.

What’s more is that the losses to the Miami Heat, Portland Trail Blazers, and Toronto Raptors were at a time when all three had a losing record. The ones against the latter two were particularly embarrassing as they have a combined 12-26 record on the season.

You could see the frustrations start to mount during the Raptors loss, when they instead returned to the loss column after collecting back-to-back victories that should’ve re-established some rhythm.

During one possession in the all-important 4th Quarter, when the score was deadlocked at 95-95 with under five minutes remaining, Rudy Gobert “walked out” of a play when Julius Randle didn’t throw him the ball, and proceeded to get called for a three-second violation. You could then see a confused and flabbergasted Anthony Edwards trying to make sense of it all.

The saga then continued in their very next outing–against the defending champion Boston Celtics no less–and it was mixed in with some hilarity given all the context. T-Wolves head coach Chris Finch designed a play for Gobert and Randle to connect on the first play of the game, and It didn’t end well.

More terrible energy was spread across the next two losses. While they displayed fight in certain parts against the Rockets and Kings, fans let their disappointment be known–after all, there’s nothing to be giddy about when your team is healthy but under .500 a month into the season while on the heels of a conference finals stint.

The young, fiery, and ultra-competitive Edwards expressed his embarrassment at what they were getting from their home crowd. Later, he also touched on their maturity and chemistry, or lack thereof.

Growing pains are expected when you make significant changes on the roster, but this isn’t really encouraging. Though Randle (21.7 PPG) is posting his usual scoring numbers, the fit is looking to be a bit questionable. DiVincenzo, on the other hand, is struggling, and is only averaging 8.9 points with a horrendous 34.8% shooting clip.

Then again, the good news is it’s still only November, and they still have months to figure each other out and make another deep playoff run.

The Timberwolves will have the LA Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, and New York Knicks in their next seven games, and how it will turn out could be telling in their capacity to respond to heightening adversity.