No team entered the 2015-16 NBA season under more somber circumstances than the Minnesota Timberwolves. No team — well, no lottery-bound team, at least — exited the campaign with more hope for a brighter tomorrow.
After the tragic loss of head coach and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders mere days before the season opener, the Wolves were a team in turmoil and transition, moving from one era in franchise history into an uncertain future. Over the course of the year — one that saw the Wolves make a 13-win improvement over 2014-15 — its outlines became clearer: Karl-Anthony Towns is that future, and perhaps the future of the league, a prospect teeming with promise and the very definition of a modern NBA big man.