MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Earlier this season, Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch found a precise if unusual way to describe why his deep, experienced and well-rounded team had slipped into another funk: moodiness.
The bad vibes are back, and with the NBA playoffs fast approaching, the timing is not good.
“It feels like we’re a million miles away from the team that we can be and that we are,” Finch said after Minnesota's fourth loss in the past five games, at home against Charlotte on Sunday. “We've got to get that back with our connectedness and our spirit. We’ve got to have some guys just play better.”
The Timberwolves (46-32) have frittered away an opportunity to secure home-court advantage for the first round and fallen three games behind fifth-place Houston in the Western Conference with four games remaining in the regular season.
They're still three games ahead of seventh-place Phoenix, but they've yet to secure a spot in the playoffs by avoiding the play-in games.
After reaching the conference finals in each of the past two years and recently bolstering their rotation with the addition of guard Ayo Dosunmu and forward Kyle Anderson, this is not the position the Timberwolves expected to be in down the stretch.
“I know guys can get down individually if things aren’t going their way, and we do have an emotional team and it can spiral if it gets too crazy," said guard Mike Conley, whose presence on the team this season is more for leadership and support than for on-court contributions. “It’s just about trying to keep everybody’s spirits up and understanding that we’re a really good team. Just because we hit a tough stretch with injuries or whatever we’re dealing with, we have a lot in the tank.”
With superstar Anthony Edwards sidelined for eight of the past 10 games because of lingering pain in his right knee and ace defender and third-leading scorer Jaden McDaniels out for the past five games with a left knee injury, the Timberwolves have been dealing with a legitimate setback over the past few weeks. What's more, sixth man Naz Reid has been playing through shoulder trouble and, whether it's related or not, struggling to rediscover his form. Reid shot 3 for 14 from the floor on Sunday.
Minnesota plays at Indiana on Tuesday, at Orlando on Wednesday and at Houston on Friday before finishing at home against New Orleans on Sunday. The Magic are playing for seeding, still seeking a top-six finish that would keep them out of the play-in games in the Eastern Conference.
The Timberwolves would secure a tiebreaker by beating the Rockets, but for that matchup on Friday to truly matter, Houston would need to lose at Phoenix on Tuesday and at home to Philadelphia on Thursday. The Rockets finish at home against Memphis on Sunday.
Finishing sixth is hardly a death sentence for a deep postseason run, considering that's the seed Minnesota had last year before beating the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round and Golden State in the second round. The Lakers are limping now, too, and would make for a favorable matchup for the Timberwolves if they stay in third. But Denver has won eight straight games and appears to be a good bet to pass them.
The Timberwolves are sixth in the league in 3-point shooting rate (36.9%) this season, but since the All-Star break they rank just 21st. Over the past 15 games, they're 25th.
“I think a lot of them are pretty good looks, to be quite honest with you,” Finch said. “Just got to stay confident in those looks, keep generating for each other.”
Without the creation and skill that Edwards and McDaniels supply, the offense will naturally suffer some. But there should be enough left on the court to help steer the Timberwolves out of this skid, too.
“We’ve got to make all the little plays, the gritty plays, stay in it,” Finch said. “Then we start gambling on defense and lose our discipline. That’s when stuff snowballs.”
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels celebrates after scoring during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards runs the court before an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch reacts to his team being called for a lane violation on a free throw against the Detroit Pistons in the second half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Lon Horwedel)
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bulls gutted their roster prior to the trade deadline. The team's top two basketball executives won't be around for the next phase of the revamp.
The Bulls fired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley on Monday, ending a six-year run that produced just one playoff appearance.
Chicago was 224-254 during their tenure. The Bulls entered Monday sitting in 12th place in the Eastern Conference at 29-49 and missing the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
President and CEO Michael Reinsdorf said in a statement that Karnisovas and Eversley “led with a deep commitment to the Chicago Bulls” and that the change is “about positioning our team for sustained success moving ahead.”
“I want our fans to know that I hear you and understand your frustration," Reinsdorf said. "I feel it as well. I know this will take time, and I am fully committed to getting this right. At the Chicago Bulls, our focus remains on building a team that can compete at the highest level and ultimately contend for championships. We are committed to taking the necessary steps to move the Bulls forward in a way that makes our fans proud.”
The Bulls tore up their roster leading up to the trade deadline in February, dealing Nikola Vucevic to Boston, Kevin Huerter to Detroit, Coby White to Charlotte and Chicago product Ayo Dosunmu to Minnesota in an effort to shake up a franchise mired in mediocrity. They hung on to Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey with the idea of building around those two. The Bulls have the salary-cap room to make some big moves this offseason.
“Being in the middle is what we don’t want to do,” Karnisovas said at the time. “I think we’ve seen that for the past four years and we want to change that.”
That's mostly where the franchise has been since Karnisovas was hired out of Denver's front office in April 2020. The Bulls brought in Eversley from Philadelphia a few weeks later and hired coach Billy Donovan that September. Donovan's future is uncertain.
The Bulls' lone playoff appearance since all three were hired came during the 2021-22 season, when they finished sixth in the Eastern Conference at 46-36 and got knocked out by Milwaukee in the first round. The Bulls lost point guard Lonzo Ball to a knee injury during that season, and he missed the next two years.
Chicago's most recent All-Star was DeMar DeRozan in 2023. The lack of a franchise cornerstone player was glaring, and Karnisovas' reluctance to launch into a major rebuild was a big source of frustration among Bulls fans. Rather than give the team the best shot at winning the lottery, he stressed patience and not skipping steps.
That changed this year when Karnisovas made seven trades before the deadline. The Bulls mostly loaded up on second-round draft picks and didn't get any first-rounders in return.
Among the players they acquired were Jaden Ivey from Detroit, hoping the No. 5 pick in the 2022 NBA draft could regain the form he showed before knee surgery. But the Bulls waived him last week following anti-LGBTQ+ comments about religion he made in videos posted on his Instagram account.
Ivey had been sidelined since Feb. 11 and appeared in just four games for Chicago. His contract was set to expire at the end of the season.
The 60-year-old Donovan, meanwhile, got a contract extension last offseason. He could seek another NBA coaching job or return to the college game if he doesn’t remain in Chicago. If he stays, the Bulls could give him a bigger say in basketball operations while remaining their coach.
Donovan has consistently said he still has a passion for coaching, is committed finishing the season and will then discuss the direction of the franchise with management and ownership. He did it again prior to the Bulls' win over Phoenix on Sunday.
“I love the organization,” he said. “I love the relationship with Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf and the relationship with the front office. All those things have been great, the players have been great.”
Donovan has a 467-411 record in 11 seasons as an NBA head coach. He was arguably the top candidate on the market when the Bulls hired him in September 2020 to replace the fired Jim Boylen following a five-year run in Oklahoma City. He led the Thunder to a 243-157 record and playoff appearances each season while working with stars such as Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Chris Paul.
Donovan previously coached for 19 seasons at the University of Florida and won back-to-back NCAA titles. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in September.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
FILE - Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team executive Marc Eversley speaks during a pre-draft workout at the Sixers Training Complex, on June 13, 2019, in Camden, N.J. (Tim Tai/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, File)
FILE - Chicago Bulls Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas speaks during a news conference during the team's NBA basketball media day, in Chicago, Sept. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
