NBA head coach Flip Saunders dies at age 60
By Josh Hill
Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders has passed away at the age of 60 after battling cancer.
The Timberwolves announced the passing of former head coach Flip Saunders on Sunday afternoon. The ex-coach had just taken a leave of absence to fight cancer, and all reports we had heard up until today were positive in nature and indicated that Saunders was going to try and make a recovery.
That isn’t the case though, as the absolutely shocking news was confirmed by the team.
This is the worst kind of soul crushing news that we could have heard two days ahead of the NBA season starting. Just a few days ago the Wolves announced that Saunders was going to be taking a step back for the entire season to fight his cancer, but the report wasn’t met with any sort of gloom and doom from anyone who was hearing the news.
If anything, it seemed like Saunders was going to make a full recover and then return to the Wolves in some capacity. Sam Mitchell had stepped up as the interim head and Saunders was going to act as some sort of confidant and advisor as the season pressed on.
Losing Saunders hurts more than just the wolves, it’s a loss that the entire NBA will feel as the season beings under the most depressing circumstances. None of us saw this coming and it has gutted all of us at a time where we should be excited for the new life of the NBA season.
Instead, we’re mourning the loss of a NBA legend we’ve lost far too early.