The Timberwolves unveiled two new jerseys for the 2017-18 season. That got us all nostalgic here on Timberwolves.com and we thought we’d take a little trip down memory lane.
1989-1996
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Describe The Jersey To Us: These will always have a special place in our hearts because they were the originals. They were simple, but instantly symbolic. The color scheme was basic and gave us the forest green and lake blue. The green eyes in the Wolf were dope.
The Player You Think About When You Think Of This Jersey: For some reason for me it’s Pooh Richardson, which seems weird. But life is weird. Most people would probably say Kevin Garnett because of his iconic rookie photo, but KG only played one season with these jerseys.
You may not believe it, but Christian Laettner had the most win shares for the Wolves wearing these jerseys with 19. My boy Richardson ranked fourth with 14.2. The player to score the most points with these uniforms was Doug West and his 5,528 points.
1996-2008
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Describe The Jersey To Us: These are the jerseys the Wolves made eight-straight postseason appearances with, including a 2003-04 run to the Western Conference Finals. This was the introduction of the trees which were a staple of the team’s logo and identity for more than a decade. My favorite of the three were the black jerseys, for whatever that’s worth (nothing. It’s worth nothing).
The Player You Think About When You Think Of This Jersey: This is the ultimate KG jersey. When I see that black jersey with the green trees, I picture KG clapping his hands before games and playing with more passion than is probably legal to play with in the NBA.
Just kidding. That's not a thing that is deemed legal or illegal by the NBA.
Let’s go to the win shares piece of this. Garnett had 134 win shares (!) during this stretch. The next most was Wally Szczerbiak and his 41. That’s more than triple! That’s insane to think about. KG owns these jerseys. You could argue that KG should be the only one allowed to ever wear these jerseys again and I think you could convince me.
2008-2010
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Describe The Jersey To Us: These got rid of the trees on the waist band and added them on the sides of the jerseys and shorts. There was also a font and color-scheme change. These jerseys lasted just two seasons.
The Player You Think About When You Think Of This Jersey: We can call these the chubby Kevin Love jerseys. Sorry, Kevin, but it’s true. Love’s 10.2-win shares led the squad in these two years with the jerseys. All Jefferson was an honorable mention with 9.5.
2010-2017
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Describe The Jersey To Us: No more green in these jerseys and we brought back the black jerseys. These jerseys gave the Wolves a more updated look and focused more on gray and black.
The Player You Think About When You Think Of This Jersey: This is a toss-up between skinny Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio. Love put Minnesota back on the map, becoming a double-double machine during his stretch from 2011-2014, before being traded to Cleveland. And then there’s Rubio, who was one of the most anticipated players to appear in a game for the Wolves. Love had 36.8 win shares wearing these jerseys, while Rubio had 23.2.
Fun fact: Karl-Anthony Towns had 20.9 in only two seasons. Kind of wild.
2017 - ?
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Describe The Jersey To Us: The jerseys are slick, clean and incorporate the team’s jersey patch sponsor, Fitbit, on the left shoulder. This is a total redesign for the Wolves considering they released a new logo at the end of last season.
The Player You Think About When You Think Of This Jersey: We don’t know yet which makes this fun! The nominees: Jimmy Butler. Towns. Wiggins. Who knows? Maybe all three?
What we do know is that things are about real fun here in Minnesota. These new threads are only part of the equation.