1995–96 Minnesota Timberwolves season

The 1995–96 Minnesota Timberwolves season was the seventh season for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the National Basketball Association. This season was most memorable when the Timberwolves received the fifth overall pick in the 1995 NBA draft, and selected power forward, and high school basketball star Kevin Garnett. The team also signed free agent All-Star guard Terry Porter, and re-signed former Timberwolves forward Sam Mitchell during the off-season.

Despite the addition of Garnett, Porter and Mitchell, the Timberwolves got off to a bad start by losing nine of their first ten games of the regular season, as head coach Bill Blair was fired after a 6–14 start, and was replaced with Flip Saunders, while Michael Williams was out for the remainder of the season due to a left heel injury after only just nine games. At mid-season, the team traded Christian Laettner and Sean Rooks to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Andrew Lang and Spud Webb, and re-acquired second-year guard Darrick Martin after a brief stint with the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies. After holding a 13–32 record at the All-Star break, the Timberwolves played .500 basketball by posting an 8–8 record in March. However, the team lost their final six games of the season, and finished in fifth place in the Midwest Division with a 26–56 record, missing the NBA playoffs for the seventh consecutive year.

Isaiah Rider led the Timberwolves with 19.6 points per game and 102 three-point field goals, while Tom Gugliotta averaged 16.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game, and Mitchell provided the team with 10.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. In addition, Garnett provided with 10.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, while Porter contributed 9.4 points and 5.5 assists per game, and Webb averaged 9.4 points and 5.9 assists per game in 26 games after the trade. Meanwhile, Lang averaged 8.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in 20 games, Martin provided with 7.3 points and 4.5 assists per game in 35 games, and Doug West contributed 6.4 points per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, Garnett was selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the Western Conference Rookie team; he also finished in sixth place in Rookie of the Year voting. The Timberwolves finished 26th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 585,669 at the Target Center during the regular season, which was the fourth-lowest in the league.

Following the season, Rider, who dealt with off-the-court troubles, was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, while Lang was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, Martin signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Clippers, and Webb was released to free agency.