![What attire did Timberwolves fans don for the Western Conference finals? What attire did Timberwolves fans don for the Western Conference finals?](https://i1.wp.com/arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/FADAX5TGCJFBTCGYPUS2EO7EDM.jpg?h=630&w=1200&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces&w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
The Timberwolves have been an NBA franchise for 35 seasons and have made it past the first round of the playoffs in exactly two of them.
You may have heard this before. This is not a team that has enjoyed much success throughout its existence, so it’s understandable that fans have been delighted with this year’s playoff run, a streak that could come to a sudden end if the Wolves They can’t find a way to make history. by becoming the first team in NBA history to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games.
Interested as we always are in seeing how fans dress for the games (see what we did in October for the Twins playoff games at Target Field), we went to Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference Finals against the Mavericks to surreptitiously take pictures of just that. In particular, we were hoping to see how many jerseys of lesser-known players people would pull out of their closets, and they didn’t disappoint. Still, it was pretty clear who was the most popular choice…
Ant and more Ant
It should come as no surprise that the most popular jersey was Anthony Edwards’. More specifically, Classic Edition No. 5 of his was probably the most viewed, as evidenced by the photo at the top of this article…
… But there were Edwards jerseys of all kinds, including many with the No. 1, the number he wore for three seasons before switching to No. 5 this season. Interestingly, there were at least a handful of Edwards jerseys in styles the Wolves hadn’t worn recently (like the Prince Purple City Edition jerseys, which the Wolves wore in 2018-19, before Edwards arrived), but I guess when You are by far the most popular player on the team, people want custom jerseys.
KAT is out of the bag
As the Wolves’ oldest player, Karl-Anthony Towns has worn more different jerseys than any other current or former player, as represented here. By the way, we didn’t realize how long the Wolves have had their current logo; Have seven seasons already passed? The new look arrived with Jimmy Butler in 2017.
KG is still king
Kevin Garnett is still missing from Target Center and his number 21 has yet to be retired, but the Wolves’ greatest player of all time remains beloved by the team’s fans. For some reason, the blue road jersey shown in the upper left corner was especially popular; Garnett only wore them in his 1995-96 rookie season, before the Wolves had their first uniform change the following year.
We have Jaden McDaniels.
We were a little surprised; By our unofficial count, Jaden McDaniels’ No. 3 might have been the Wolves’ third most popular jersey, or at least tied with Naz Reid’s No. 11. We would have guessed Rudy Gobert, but he apparently ranks fifth.
Naz Reid? Naz Reid
What more can be said? Besides “I wish he’d made that 3-pointer at the end of the second game,” anyway.
and the other boys
Of course, there are other players on the team as well. Gobert and Mike Conley jerseys were common, others less so. We’re not sure what’s going on with “Conley Jr.” On the right; We saw a few of these, but Mike Conley has only had “Conley” on his back since he joined the Wolves last year.
Keep up with the times
It’s one thing to just put a new name on your jersey to stay up to date. Turn Jimmy Butler into Monte Morris? Easy peasy. But the mathematical gymnastics to turn your Kris Dunn No. 3 jersey into an Anthony Edwards one is impressive. At some point this fan even changed the meaning of the 2 + 3 on his back; He started at 23 for Butler and then Jarrett Culver, before moving to 5 for Malik Beasley, Kyle Anderson and finally Ant.
Let’s remember some guys.
Some numerical curiosities for you. The number 1 has been worn by more players than anyone in Wolves history: 16; the second most is number 4, with 14, although it is not in use at this time. The single-digit number with the fewest players is No. 0, although two of them are represented here in Jeff Teague and D’Angelo Russell. If you can identify the other No. 0 as Othyus Jeffers in two games in April 2014, give yourself a treat.
The number 14 seems like a pretty standard basketball uniform number to us, but interestingly, only three Wolves have ever worn it, and none since Nikola Pekovic in 2016; perhaps it is believed that he is cursed with foot injuries. And for a guy who appeared in only 60 games over two seasons with the Wolves, you can see how popular Derrick Rose was, as there were a surprising amount of people walking around wearing his number 25.
There was definitely someone wearing a green #67 Taj Gibson in Game 1, but we saw it from far away and never got close to take a photo. Too much.
Going back a little further
Lots of “what could have been” in this group. Respect to the guy who wore the late Malik Sealy’s No. 2 jersey in Game 1; Karl-Anthony Towns wore the white version during his press conference that day. There are three players from the 1990s here with the number 24; At least, we believe there are three. We imagine the original white No. 24 jersey with no name on the back represents Pooh Richardson, the first Draft pick in franchise history? By the way, eight former Gophers have also played for the Wolves, but No. 24 is the only uniform number worn by two of them; Quincy Lewis followed former college teammate Bobby Jackson with the number in 2004.
You don’t usually win when you play the lottery
To know the history of the Wolves is to know that they have mostly been bad, and hand in hand with that fact are their often woeful picks in the NBA draft. These six were lottery picks who combined to average 9.2 points per game for the Wolves. (We did the math.) Is it unfair to lump Rashad McCants and Shabazz Muhammad into this group when they were both selected at No. 14, the lottery’s final pick, while the other four were in the top six? Possibly. Muhammad wasn’t even a pick of the Wolves, but they acquired him and No. 21 overall pick Gorgui Dieng from Utah on draft night in exchange for ninth pick Trey Burke. It wasn’t a bad trade overall, but the Wolves couldn’t take Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished 15th overall in Milwaukee. (And we won’t mention who was drafted right after Jonny Flynn in 2009.)
come on In fact remember some guys
Now these are some names. Yes, Nemanja Bjelica played here for three seasons, but do you really expect to see someone sporting the Belly’s number 8 jersey? Mark Madsen was here twice as long: six seasons! – But he only played 270 games during that span, averaging 5.5 points. In Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved you have a pair of Russians who played here together in 2012-13, when Ricky Rubio told the unhappy Shved to “change this face.” Martell Webster, Michael Beasley and Brandon Roy were here the year before, three top draft picks put together by David Kahn in his mad scientist’s attempt to put together a good team. (None of that worked.) Roy, you may recall, was drafted sixth overall by the Wolves in 2006, but was traded on draft night to Portland for Randy Foye; Roy went on to be the Rookie of the Year, but when he returned to Minnesota he had already retired once due to knee injuries. His comeback lasted five games before he again needed knee surgery, and that led to his permanent retirement.
T-shirts we wish we’d seen
Yes, yes, we know everyone loves Anthony Edwards and Kevin Garnett. But somewhere in someone’s closet, there has to be a Wolves jersey for one of these guys:
No. 1 Anthony Peeler
No. 3 Sebastian Telfair
No. 4 Michael Williams
No. 8 Rasho Nesterovic
No. 10 Shane heals
No. 19 Tony Campbell
No. 21 Stacey King
No. 23 Trenton Hassell
No. 24 Anthony Bennett
No. 30 Mark Blount
No. 31 Darko Milicic
No. 32Joe Smith
No. 41 Juancho Hernangómez
No. 42 Sam Mitchell
No. 43 Chris Carr
No. 44 Ndudi Ebi
Person Chuck No. 45
No. 50 Trevor Winter
No. 55 Marko Jaric
I guess there’s always the next playoff run.
Keynote USA
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