This number is so notorious as unlucky that there still are hotels that won’t declare a floor to be the 13th. It is also the number of NBA seasons the Timberwolves have gone without reaching the playoffs.
Bad luck is a small part of it. This is futility that has been mostly earned.
In these 13 years, the Timberwolves have messed up the draft, they have kept players on long-term contracts who did not deliver, they have not taken the plunge to bring in a difference-making free agent, and they have hired and fired in ill-advised ways.