MINNEAPOLIS — Most NBA consumers are privy to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ role in delivering Stephen Curry — and the dynasty he’d then pioneer — to the Golden State Warriors. It’s an easy track to follow.
Minnesota’s front office, led by David Kahn, had the fifth and sixth picks in the 2009 NBA Draft. They selected two point guards, Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio, instead of Curry, leaving the soon-to-be generational superstar for the Warriors at the seventh selection.
Sixteen years later, Curry’s playoff résumé is the stuff of legends: 103 wins, four championships, an NBA record 647 made 3s, road wins in 28 of his 29 career series, all for the same franchise. This past weekend, he eliminated the Houston Rockets for a fifth time, a fate he’s delivered to nine other Western Conference organizations.
The Timberwolves aren’t one of them. The 2025 Western Conference semifinals will mark the first time Curry has ever met Minnesota in a playoff series. But the lack of history during this point of the NBA calendar doesn’t mean there’s a lack of history between the two organizations. Similar to Curry, in a more indirect way, you could argue that the other two biggest stars in this series — Anthony Edwards and Jimmy Butler — were also routed to their current locations, in part, because of the opposing organization.
Read more about the Timberwolves’ and Warriors’ interconnected histories below.
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As Warriors and Timberwolves meet in NBA playoffs, ‘what-ifs’ loom just below the surface
