MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves ruled out All-Star Jimmy Butler before their game Wednesday night against Utah for "precautionary rest."Coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters at the morning shootaround that Butler's absence was not related to his trade request."He missed all of training camp, basically, so he has just general soreness," Thibodeau said.Butler told ESPN he planned to attend the game against the Jazz at the Target Center and travel with the team on its five-game trip that begins Friday night at Golden State. Butler told the network he would play against the Warriors and disputed speculation that he was sitting out Wednesday in protest of the lack of action by the Wolves on his desire to be dealt elsewhere."Because my body is hurting and I don't want to go out there and risk an injury, people make stuff up?" Butler said.Thibodeau was noncommittal when asked if Butler would join the team on the trip.Butler scored 32 points in 37 minutes in Minnesota's win Monday night... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves ruled out All-Star Jimmy Butler in advance of their game Wednesday against Utah for "precautionary rest."Coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters at the morning shootaround that Butler's absence was not related to his trade request ."He missed all of training camp, basically, so he has just general soreness," Thibodeau said.Butler told ESPN he planned to attend the game against the Jazz at the Target Center and travel with the team on its five-game road trip that begins Friday at Golden State. Butler told the network he would play against the Warriors and disputed speculation that he was sitting out Wednesday in protest of the lack of action by the Wolves on his desire to be dealt elsewhere."Because my body is hurting and I don't want to go out there and risk an injury, people make stuff up?" Butler said.Thibodeau was noncommittal when asked if Butler would join the team on the trip.Butler scored 32 points in 37 minutes in Minnesota's win Monday against... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — For a team that didn't make any major moves during the summer, the Minnesota Timberwolves sure have their share of new players this season.The critical process of familiarization and integration will speed up over the next week, in the form of a trip to California to continue training camp and play a couple of exhibition games while Jimmy Butler's unresolved trade request looms in the background .The Timberwolves will be out of town for seven days, a prime time for bonding."They can spend a lot of time together. We'll have good practices, some film sessions, some team dinners, so I think it's good," coach Tom Thibodeau said Thursday, before the traveling party boarded a plane for the Bay Area. The Wolves play the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Friday night.With draft picks Josh Okogie and Keita Bates-Diop and veterans Anthony Tolliver and Luol Deng, the Wolves will sport a significantly different look to their bench. When — or if, as Thibodeau has insisted... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves have started their 30th season amid more drama and dysfunction, an all-too-familiar feeling.Jimmy Butler, the four-time All-Star shooting guard whose heralded arrival from Chicago sparked a 16-win improvement and an end to a 13-year absence from the playoffs, told president of basketball operations and head coach Tom Thibodeau last week he wants to be traded and won't re-sign with the team.Talk about bad timing, even by Timberwolves standards."It's not the first time a player has made that type of request, nor will it be the last, and our job is to seek out the best opportunity for us." Thibodeau said. "If something's good for us, then we're interested in doing it. If not, then we're ready to move forward the other way."While most players dismissed the notion of a major distraction during their media sessions on Monday at the commencement of training camp, power forward Taj Gibson bluntly declared Butler's decision a significant setback to the... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed free agent forward Luol Deng, the latest former Chicago Bulls player to reunite with coach Tom Thibodeau.Deng's one-year deal is for the minimum salary of $2.4 million for a player with his experience, according to a person with knowledge of the contract who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team does not release terms.Deng will join former Bulls teammates Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and Derrick Rose in Minnesota. They all played for Thibodeau with Chicago, too.Just two seasons into a four-year, $72 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, Deng was waived on Sept. 1 in a buyout move that allowed them to spread the final season of that albatross deal over a three-year span of the salary cap limit.The contract was a remnant of the administration of former Lakers basketball boss Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak, the duo that was dismissed seven months after handing out hefty deals to Deng... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed free agent forward Luol Deng, the latest former Chicago Bulls player to reunite with coach Tom Thibodeau.Deng's one-year deal is for $2.4 million, according to a person with knowledge of the contract speaking on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the team does not release terms. Deng will join former Bulls teammates Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and Derrick Rose in Minnesota. They all played for Thibodeau with Chicago, too.Deng debuted with the Bulls as a 19-year-old in 2004, when the native of South Sudan was the seventh overall pick in the draft out of Duke. Deng played 10 seasons for Chicago, but Minnesota will be his fifth team in six years. He was waived by the Los Angeles Lakers on Sept. 1.___For more AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves made major strides this season in ending their 13-year absence from the NBA playoffs after a franchise-altering trade for All-Star Jimmy Butler.With cornerstones Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins in their early 20s and veterans Taj Gibson and Jeff Teague coming off productive debuts in Minnesota, there is a sturdy starting lineup in place around Butler to ideally take the Timberwolves deeper in the next postseason.Advancement is easier stated than consummated.The Wolves, even with coach Tom Thibodeau's preference to give his first-teamers heavy minutes, need to add depth this summer with defense and 3-point shooting atop the skill-set wish list. There is no clear way to acquire more of it, though, after making the logical first moves by drafting versatile wing players Josh Okogie and Keita Bates-Diop last week .Wiggins will begin playing on his maximum contract in 2018-19, with a $25 million-plus salary that will account for more than 20... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — For the first time since 2004, the Minnesota Timberwolves are entering May without their customary collection of good-luck charms for the NBA draft lottery.The longest-running absence from the playoffs in the league finally over, the Wolves took a significant accomplishment into the summer after their 47-35 record during the regular season tied for the fifth-best in franchise history."When you haven't done something for 14 years, it's a major step for our organization, and it's not easy to do. Winning in this league is very difficult, and we should understand that," said president of basketball operations and head coach Tom Thibodeau, who joined general manager Scott Layden on Monday for a wrapup news conference.Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns gave the Timberwolves multiple representatives at the All-Star game for the first time since Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell in 2004 on their way to the Western Conference finals. That was the most recent postseason appearance... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The first taste of the NBA playoffs for Timberwolves All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns has been rather bitter, thanks to the 3-point-happy Houston Rockets.The two-game totals tell a frustrating story for the 22-year-old: just 13 points, 5 for 18 shooting and a 2-0 deficit in the series against the Rockets. Towns has found himself the subject of pointed criticism from analysts, fans and even his own team.The switch-heavy Rockets have double-teamed Towns to a stifling effect, and the Timberwolves sure haven't helped their 7-footer out by getting him the ball in favorable situations in the post."They're coming to double. He knows that. He has to face up, be strong with the ball, make quick moves," point guard Jeff Teague said. "But we have to figure out how to get him running, get him some easy buckets."The team's struggles have taken a little luster off Minnesota's first postseason home game in 14 years, but the fans who remember the Timberwolves reaching the Western Conference... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The impact made by Jimmy Butler on the Minnesota Timberwolves was obvious from the start, transcending the two ends of the court where he's made his mark as a four-time All-Star.Perhaps no better example of the leadership he contributed to a long-languishing franchise trying to find its way came during a three-day stretch in mid-December.With Butler playing through back spasms, the Timberwolves lost at home to a Phoenix Suns team that ultimately finished with the NBA's worst record. Afterward, Butler was flat on the floor in the locker room, in enough discomfort that moving around was a difficult proposition.Two nights later, Butler powered past the pain to score 37 points and carry the Wolves to victory over the Portland Trail Blazers , who finished third in the Western Conference this season."If you go out there and show them how hard you have to play in this league until the end on a constant basis," Butler said then, cajoling his young teammates, "that's when they... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves have seven games to go in this strenuous regular season, coming tantalizingly close to the tormented franchise's first appearance in the playoffs in 14 years.The trouble is their once-sturdy postseason bid is also teetering on the brink of being painfully denied.Beginning a supposedly softer stretch of their schedule that has the potential to help propel them to the finish line, the Timberwolves took an egregious loss on Monday to a languishing Memphis team that had lost all 17 road games to date in 2018. The outcome only furthered the doubt among an embittered fan base about whether the Wolves can hang on long enough without All-Star shooting guard Jimmy Butler to finish in the top eight in the Western Conference."We have to keep pushing forward. For some guys, this is a new experience. This is about your will," coach Tom Thibodeau said after the 101-93 loss. "You can't approach it without knowing what you have to put into it."The word Thibodeau... [More]

For Derrick Rose, what's old is new again.Rose has signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves, reuniting the 2011 NBA MVP with three mainstays from his days in Chicago: coach Tom Thibodeau and teammates Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson. The Timberwolves did not release contract terms, but a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press the deal is for the remainder of the season.Rose was in uniform for the Wolves on Thursday night against Boston, but he didn't get in the game."The only thing I'm missing now is the opportunity," Rose told reporters in Minnesota earlier in the day. "Talking to Thibs, he sounds like he's going to give me the opportunity, so it's all about learning the guys and fitting in at the right time."Minnesota will be the fourth team Rose plays for and technically his fourth franchise in the last 11 months. Rose spent his first eight NBA years in Chicago, five of those with Thibodeau as his coach. He was with New York last season and started this season with Cleveland,... [More]

For Derrick Rose, what's old is new again.Rose has signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves in a move that reunites the 2011 NBA MVP with three mainstays from his days in Chicago — coach Tom Thibodeau, as well as Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson. The Timberwolves did not release the terms, but a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that the deal is for the remainder of the season.Rose may debut as early as Thursday night, when Minnesota plays host to Boston."The only thing I'm missing now is the opportunity," Rose told reporters in Minnesota on Thursday. "Talking to Thibs, he sounds like he's going to give me the opportunity, so it's all about learning the guys and fitting in at the right time."Minnesota will be the fourth team Rose plays for, and technically his fourth franchise in the last 11 months. Rose spent his first eight NBA years in Chicago, five of those with Thibodeau as his coach. He was with New York last season and started this season with Cleveland, but appeared... [More]

For Derrick Rose, what's old is new again.Rose has signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves in a move that reunites the 2011 NBA MVP with three mainstays from his days in Chicago — coach Tom Thibodeau, as well as Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson. The Timberwolves did not release the terms, but a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that the deal is for the remainder of the season.Minnesota will be the fourth team Rose plays for, and technically his fourth franchise in the last 11 months. Rose spent his first eight NBA years in Chicago, five of those with Thibodeau as his coach. He was with New York last season and started this season with Cleveland, but appeared in only 16 games with the Cavaliers largely because of injuries.The Cavaliers traded the former All-Star to Utah last month as part of the massive restructuring of their team, and the Jazz waived him shortly afterward.Rose has been working out since, and this week became a father again — just days before striking... [More]

F Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler led the Timberwolves with 23 points apiece.

F Taj Gibson recorded a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds in Wednesday's win over the Los Angeles Clippers. It was his fifth double-double in seven games.

PF Taj Gibson had 20 points and 11 rebounds against the Clippers. Gibson has a double-double in four of his last five games.

F Taj Gibson had 16 points and 11 rebounds in Tuesday's 92-89 loss to Washington.

F Taj Gibson had 16 points and a season-high 14 rebounds for the Timberwolves (12-8), who had lost three of their previous four games.

F Taj Gibson added a season-high 24 points as the Wolves held on for a 124-118 victory over Orlando on Wednesday.