The Minnesota Timberwolves entered the 2024 Western Conference Finals as the favorite to make it to the NBA Finals, and for justifiable reason. After all, the Timberwolves just defeated the reigning champion Denver Nuggets in a grueling seven-game series that showed that Minnesota, indeed, is the real deal. Alas, the good times didn't last very long. After just 11 days, the Timberwolves are now out of the playoffs after the Dallas Mavericks took care of business with a 124-103 win in Game 5 to finish the series.

The Timberwolves' stars simply did not have the best of series. Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns were simply unable to match the level Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving played at, especially in the clutch, and it led to a few close losses for Minnesota that didn't really allow them to recover in the series. Nonetheless, Edwards knows that the Timberwolves are here to stay in true title contention for next season at least.

“We’ll be back next year,” Edwards said, per Dane Moore of the Blue Wire.

Indeed, while the Timberwolves may have failed to keep up the momentum of their rousing series win over the Nuggets in the WCF, there's no reason to expect them to be worse next season. After all, they should still have all their core pieces intact, even though Kyle Anderson is set to be a free agent.

Playoff heartbreak will only harden the Timberwolves

For the Timberwolves, it will be heartbreaking for them to come so close yet finish so far away from their goal of winning a championship. After all, there are no guarantees that they'll be back this far in the playoffs, as talented as their roster might be. Fans of the franchise will know this to be true by heart.

In 2004, the Timberwolves came to within just two wins away from making the NBA Finals before succumbing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the WCF. That was a team that won 58 games thanks in large part to the stellar efforts of Kevin Garnett, Sam Cassell, and Latrell Sprewell. Garnett was in his prime too; at age 27, he still had a few years of top-five play in him.

Alas, that was the last time the Timberwolves would make it to the playoffs before going on a 13-year drought. It would take them 20 years before they made it back to the conference finals. Suffice to say, Timberwolves fans know heartbreak when they see it.

But this time, the Timberwolves should be better positioned to sustainably contend. Anthony Edwards is only going to turn 23 years of age in August, and he's under contract for a long time. Edwards being this good at such a young age gives Minnesota a large margin of error.

Nearly all the greats in basketball have had to endure disappointment before they were able to reach the mountaintop in the NBA. Not everyone can be Tim Duncan and win the championship in their rookie season. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James all came up short in the playoffs on multiple occasions before they broke through.

Other all-time greats who had to trip just so they could stand back up are Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Kevin Durant, to name a few. Anthony Edwards, being as young as he is, has time on his side. And for the Timberwolves, the work only continues on from here.