Minnesota Timberwolves

From Hoopedia

1 Franchise Name History
2 Franchise History
3 Franchise Arenas
4 Franchise Personnel
5 Retired Numbers
6 External Links

Franchise Name History

Four months before the NBA granted Minnesota a franchise in 1986, the nickname of "Timberwolves" was selected as the winner of a "Name the Team" contest. Fans throughout and beyond Minnesota submitted 6,076 entries featuring 1,284 different nicknames. Timberwolves, which was submitted 17 times, and Polars were the finalists. The other 1,282 entries ran through a number of different categories, including animals, fish, political interests, outer space, already-existing team names, some names that had to be researched in a dictionary and a potpourri of nicknames that no specific category could claim.

Upon the selection of the two finalists, the choice of whether the NBA team would be the Timberwolves or Polars was left up to the 842 City Councils around the state. They rendered their decision and only one task was left: to determine the winner of the contest.

The names of the 17 entrants who submitted "Timberwolves" were placed in a drawing, which was won by Tim Pope of Brooklyn Center, Minn., who received a trip to the 1987 NBA All-Star Weekend in Seattle. Read More...

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Franchise History

Al Jefferson

After the 1959-60 NBA season, the Minneapolis Lakers moved west to Los Angeles and Minnesota remained without an NBA franchise for 29 years. But in 1987, the NBA decided to expand by a total of four teams – two for the 1988-89 season and two for the 1989-90 season. Twin Cities businessmen Harvey Ratner and Marv Wolfenson made their pitch to the league, and Minnesota was awarded a team to start play in the 1989-90 season.

On Nov. 3, 1989, the Minnesota Timberwolves played their inaugural game against the Seattle SuperSonics in Seattle, losing 106-94. The NBA returned to Minneapolis on Nov. 8, 1989 when the Wolves hosted Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls at the Metrodome before a crowd of 35,427. Two days later, the Wolves recorded their first-ever victory, 125-118 over Philadelphia in overtime.Read More...

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