Life hasn't always been easy for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Since joining the league in 1989, they've made it past the first round of the NBA Playoffs on just one occasion, losing at that stage ten times.

But while that lack of success – and the fact that they've only been in the league since '89 – has contributed to this list of their top ten players having a little less depth than those of many other teams, the Timberwolves have still had a number of very good players come through their doors.

Without further ado, this is the list of the top ten Timberwolves in franchise history, ranked.

10. Andrew Wiggins

Many Timberwolves fans don't have particularly fond memories of Andrew Wiggins' tenure in Minnesota. Over the course of his six seasons there it became apparent that he wasn't going to be the savior that they'd hope he was when he was drafted with the first pick in 2014, but expectations aside he was a solid servant for a number of years for the team. In his time there, Wiggins won the Rookie of the Year Award and averaged 19.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists. He might not have fulfilled fans' lofty expectations, but Wiggins was a decent player on a struggling team in Minnesota.

9. Anthony Edwards

Speaking of potential saviors, Anthony Edwards was on the receiving end of the same expectations placed upon Wiggins when he was drafted with the first pick in 2020, but he looks a lot more likely to fulfil them than his predecessor. He's only been there for three years, but Edwards' explosive athleticism and continually developing ability to read the game has him poised to be one of the game's best players for many years to come. Already he's helped lead the Timberwolves back into the playoffs over the past couple of years, and with averages of 24.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists, if he hangs around there's a decent chance they'll be staying there.

8. Tom Gugliotta

With any recency bias now out of the way, let's head back to the '90s. In a relatively long career, Tom Gugliotta only spent four seasons with the Timberwolves, but they were some of the most productive of his career and saw the team drag themselves out of the doldrums of the NBA standings and back into the playoffs. He was an NBA All-Star in one of his seasons with the team, and in his time there averaged 18.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists.

7. Wally Szczerbiak

Wally Szczerbiak was drafted by the Timberwolves with the sixth pick in the 1999 draft, and would go on to have a seven-season career with the team that has him among the top players in franchise history. A dependable scorer and lethal shooter (he maxed out at 45.5% from three-point range in his third season), Szczerbiak's tenure in Minnesota has seen him file himself away in the top ten for many statistics; he's seventh in games, ninth in both rebounds and assists and sixth in points, numbers which confirm his spot among the franchise's greats.

6. Jimmy Butler

Unlike the aforementioned couple of names, Jimmy Butler didn't exactly have a long career in Minnesota and his time there will be largely forgotten come the end of his career. But in less than two seasons, he left an indelible mark on the franchise. Averages of over 20 points, five rebounds and four assists demonstrated his value on the court, but perhaps more important was his presence off it. Butler is renowned for his incredibly high standards and work ethic, something he didn't feel existed in Minnesota and which led to a somewhat ugly exit. But acrimonious as his time there may have been, for the young players around him such as Karl-Anthony Towns, he no doubt demonstrated the level of commitment required to make it at the top level.

5. Al Jefferson

Like Butler, Al Jefferson's time in Minnesota isn't the most memorable of his career. But while he only spent three seasons with the team, he was a force to be reckoned with. Jefferson came in as a replacement to Kevin Garnett, and though he was unsurprisingly unable to live up to the lofty standards set by his predecessor, he did a pretty good job. In those three years he averaged 20.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists to establish himself as one of the better players to have donned the Minnesota jersey.

4. Sam Cassell

Another player whose time in Minnesota was short-lived, Sam Cassell made the most of his two seasons with the Timberwolves, playing a key role in what is the most successful Minnesota team in their history to date. Alongside Kevin Garnett and Latrell Sprewell, he helped take the team to a 58-win season and the number one season in the West. Unfortunately, that season ended with a six-game Conference Finals loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it remains comfortably the best in franchise history. That year, Cassell was named in the All-Star year on the back of 19.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game, etching himself into Timberwolves history in the process.

3. Karl-Anthony Towns

Karl-Anthony Towns is on the receiving end of plenty of criticism, and though a lot of it is justified, there's no doubting the prodigious talent that this man is. One of the greatest shooting big men in history, the 7'0″ tall Towns is a career 39.5% shooter from long-range, and his deft touch has led him to five seasons averaging over 24 points per game in his first eight in the league. Unfortunately his talent hasn't yet translated to the success for which Timberwolves fans so desperately yearn, already he's moved himself into second in points, blocks and rebounds, and fifth in assists for the team. At just 27 years of age his career is far from done, and if he, alongside Edwards, can help to carry this team further up the NBA standings, he may very well find himself climbing even higher in this list.

2. Kevin Love

Kevin Love was drafted to Minnesota with the fifth pick in 2008, with the team no doubt hoping he would become the best Kevin to ever wear a jersey – a feat which would take a whole lot of doing. He didn't quite get there, but during Love's six seasons with the Timberwolves he was one of the most potent offensive players in the league. By his fourth season in the NBA, Love was averaging a whopping 26.0 points and 13.3 rebounds, enough to earn him the NBA Most Improved Player Award and a spot on the NBA All-Star Team. He added a couple more of those to his trophy cabinet while with the Timberwolves as well as a couple of All-NBA Second Team spots, etching his name into the annals of Minnesota history as one of the greatest to don the jersey.

1. Kevin Garnett

There's plenty of debate about the greatest ever player for many franchises in the NBA. The Minnesota Timberwolves are not one of them. By the end of his career, Garnett had put together 14 seasons in Minnesota, and the list of accolades he received during those years speaks for itself; the MVP in 2004, a ten-time All-Star, three times voted to the All-NBA First Team, three to the Second Team and a couple to the Third Team, as well as a six-time member of the All-NBA Defensive First Team. Unsurprisingly, he leads virtually every historic stat of note for the team, and it's not close. He's the best player to ever don the jersey and just so happens to be the longest tenured, too, making him unequivocally the greatest Timberwolves player in history.