The Minnesota Timberwolves have fired head coach Tom Thibodeau.
The Timberwolves made the call on Sunday evening following Minnesota's 22-point win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Ryan Saunders -- longterm assistant coach and son of the late Flip Saunders, who coached the Timberwolves for 11 seasons over two different stints -- will take over as the interim head coach.
The Minnesota Timberwolves announced this afternoon that they have relieved Tom Thibodeau of his duties as President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach, effective immediately.
Scott Layden will remain in his role as General Manager and will run the day-to-day operations of the basketball department and Assistant Coach Ryan Saunders will assume the role of interim head coach for the remainder of the 2018-19 season.
The fact that the Wolves decided to fire Thibodeau is not all that surprising, as he's been on thin ice in Minnesota for a while. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor reportedly considered firing Thibodeau over the summer, and his handling of the Jimmy Butler fiasco did not earn him any additional support.
The Wolves will be back in action on Tuesday night when they meet the Thunder (8 p.m. ET -- Watch on FuboTV with the NBA TV add-on).
To make the call immediately following an impressive win is certainly a bit bizarre though. But according to Krawczynski, the decision was the cumulation of a long-term evaluation process following the whole Butler saga. Charania added that this was a business based decision as well, with fan apathy and a need to sell season tickets factoring into the firing.
Thibodeau, of course, tried to salvage things with Butler instead of trading him immediately, and Butler ended up playing 10 games with the Wolves early in the season. After a 4-9 start, Thibodeau finally relented, and the team sent Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Robert Covington and Dario Saric. Things looked up initially, but the Wolves have stagnated in a crowded Western Conference. Even after their big win over the Lakers on Sunday, the Wolves are just 19-21 on the season and sitting in 11th place.
