NBA tip-off: Can Timberwolves win first NBA title?

With eight different teams the winners over the past eight seasons, it is hard to predict who takes home the NBA's Larry O'Brien Trophy in June.

If there is to be a ninth different name in as many seasons, you might look to San Antonio Spurs, with Victor Wembanyama leading the team to the Finals last season before coming unstuck against the New York Knicks.

Maybe the Philadelphia 76ers off-season moves to acquire Jaylen Brown and sign the NBA's all-time leading scorer LeBron James is an attractive pick, or perhaps the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As the season tips off, the first British-born coach in the NBA, Tim Lewis will be hoping he can assist Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves to their first NBA title.

Lewis has been something of a journeyman in basketball.

Born in Saint Asaph, Wales, he went on to represent the country in the 1990s, before forging a coaching career that spans almost the entire globe.

He has coached the Thailand and Qatar national teams and had spells in Germany, Belgium, Canada, the United States of America and Panama. He most recently worked in Japan as head coach of Eneos Sunflowers who he helped to the Empress Cup in January.

That is not including more than 15 years of coaching England and Great Britain age groups, where he was an assistant to now Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch at the London 2012 Olympics.

Lewis was one of the Team GB assistant coaches, alongside Philadelphia 76ers head coach, Nick Nurse.

But Lewis and American Finch's friendship began way before that.

"We played against each other when I was back at [Crystal] Palace and Chris was at Sheffield [Sharks], he said.

"I've had stops with Chris when he was in Belgium and then before the Olympics, I spent six months at Houston with him.

"We've become close, it's almost like brothers. We've known each other 25 years and it's a strong bond."

After a previous brief spell with Minnesota, Lewis left to continue to be a head coach in Japan for three years, but Finch was persistent.

"For the last year and a half, Chris has knocked on the door and said, 'come back, come back'.

"Eventually I gave in this summer again and gone back for a more influential role, with more of an input and impact on things with stuff that's going on and I'm excited."

Lewis had a spell as a replacement coach with Minnesota's G League team, the Iowa Wolves during Covid, before joining the staff the following season with a responsibility for post-game analysis.

"I would just go through all our game plans," he told BBC Sport Wales.

"I had a little bit of player development, but it was time consuming, nobody had done it before.

"Teams do the analysis pre-game of what we're going to do and how we're going to do it with plans, but not post-game.

"I'm not sure how many of the other staff appreciated me critiquing what was going on, but that was my role, and it stayed in place."

As Lewis returns to Minnesota, his role has expanded.

"Pablo [Prigioni] is going to take the lead on the offence and my role will be to help create some of these game plans offensively," he said.

"It's a full assistant's role with responsibility for offensive game planning.

"I look at what the other team are doing defensively and what can we do to maximise our ability to beat them offensively.

"On top of that, some player development with a couple of the young bigs."

In July, Minnesota acquired Josh Green and LaMelo Ball as part of a four-team trade.

Ball scored with 272 three-point shots in the 2025-26 season, the second most of any player in the NBA.

His partnership with Anthony Edwards in the backcourt appears to be an offensive coach's dream.

"Anthony and LaMelo and those guys are going to be exciting to watch," said Lewis.

"With LaMelo, you've got somebody that can now throw the lob and Rudy becomes a bit more of a rim threat, which we haven't necessarily had.

"Teams will find it harder to double-team him when you've got people like LaMelo on the floor with him."

"I don't know whether or not Anthony wants the burden of being the next face of the NBA, who knows?

"He is an immense talent, very responsive, a great kid overall and he's a great person, very coachable and wants to get better."

It will be a daunting start for the Timberwolves this season, with Giannis Antentokounmpo and Miami Heat first up but Lewis says the team are ready for the challenge.

"We come out of the gate hard, Miami, Orlando, and then Toronto," he said.

"They've all got three bruising power forwards, which is one area where we're a bit light.

"Everybody's worried we don't have size at the four, but Chris [Finch] will figure out how that looks.

"One of the things Minnesota's going to be lucky to do is be able to play different ways and the team's going to be exciting to watch."

The ambition is clear for Minnesota and Lewis, the NBA title is the ultimate goal for 2027.

"We want to make the play-offs and get to the championship games, everybody wants to win a championship, but you've got 29 other teams that are trying to do the same thing," said Lewis.

"Fifty-plus wins a season is what you want, that puts you in a great position to make the play-offs and to be a contender for that first seed.

"You don't ever want to jinx it but everybody's saying this team has an opportunity to go a long way this year, but you never know, we've been close every year.

"Teams are going to have to adjust to the way Minnesota plays and the personnel we have."

In terms of his own predictions for the season, Lewis offered a few suggestions for potential Larry O'Brien trophy winners.

"It's one of the things about the NBA at the moment, it's somewhat unpredictable," he said.

"Teams that maybe surge in the regular season but aren't built to compete in the playoffs.

"San Antonio could be that team, Minnesota could be that team.

"We've had Denver's number now for a number of years, other than the year they won it [2023].

"Who knows what Philly's going to do with the additions they've made."

Lewis says an NBA title would mean "so much" to Minneapolis.

The franchise formed in 1989 as an expansion team, with the supporters patiently waiting to make it to the NBA Finals.

"Minnesota fans are unbelievable," he said.

"It goes way back to Minneapolis Lakers [1947-1960] that are now the Los Angeles Lakers, who did win a championship.

"As an organisation, being able to win in that environment against a bigger market team is always a huge success.

"It's more for the city, it would be an amazing accomplishment."