What's the furthest the Minnesota Timberwolves have ever gone in the NBA Playoffs?

After entering the NBA in 1989, the Minnesota Timberwolves made their first of their eight postseasons in 1997 led by the Superstar and Coach duo of Kevin Garnett and Flip Saunders. Despite the consistency in making the postseason, the Wolves wouldn’t win a playoff series in their first seven postseason appearances. 

Led by MVP Kevin Garnett and flanked by a supporting cast that included all-star Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell, the 2003-04 Timberwolves would create franchise history. This team would end the regular season with a franchise-best record of 58-24 and became the only iteration in franchise history to top the Western Conference.

Despite being pushed to the limit by the Sacramento Kings in the second round (in a seven-game series), the Wolves would go to the Conference Finals. Going up against a Lakers juggernaut in the conference final with an injury to Sam Cassell, the Wolves would valiantly take the series to six games before bowing out. As of now, this remains the closest the Wolves have come to an NBA Title.

Following this season, the Timberwolves would fail to capitalize on their momentum in a challenging West and would go on to start one of the longest playoff droughts in NBA history. The KG-Era would officially come to an end in 2007 and the Timberwolves wouldn’t come close to replicating their exploits from 2004 for more than a decade. 

In 2018, the Wolves would end a 14-year drought to the playoffs after acquiring Jimmy Butler in the off-season however they would lose in five games in the first round. The Jimmy Butler experiment would prove to be short-lived as the Star would ask for a trade after just one season.

Despite having promising pieces, the Timberwolves would return to mediocrity. In 2020, this mediocrity would help them land a franchise-altering star with the number-one pick in the NBA Draft. The Timberwolves would draft Anthony Edwards first overall in the 2020 NBA Draft. 

With a solid core surrounding their new young star, the Timberwolves would make it back to the postseason in 2022, marking the start of a new chapter in Timberwolves history. With New President of basketball operations Tim Connely making win-now moves, the Wolves finally could dream big again. After a second straight first-round exit in 2023, the 2023-24 Wolves finally seemed to put things together as they won 56 games in the regular season and missed out on the one-seed by the barest of margins.

After sweeping a highly-rated six-seed Phoenix Suns team in the first round, the Timberwolves would pull off a historic upset against the defending champions Denver Nuggets after winning game seven in Denver after trailing by 20 points at one stage. This would take them to the exact same stage as the 2003-04 iteration of the team: the Western Conference Finals.

After facing a 0-3 series deficit in the Conference final, it’s unlikely that the team will be able to progress or even match the six games their predecessors took their conference final to however this has been a historic season for the Timberwolves franchise without a doubt.