Minnesota drafted Kevin Garnett as the No. 5 overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft.
The Timberwolves have had some of the league’s best defensive big men wear their uniform, most notably Kevin Garnett and Rudy Gobert. Read on to see the best shot-blocking seasons in Timberwolves history.
Kevin Garnett – 2003-04, 2.2 BPG
Garnett was on another level in the 2003-04 season, when he took down MVP honors. He averaged 24.2 points per game while pulling down a league-leading 13.9 rebounds per game. He rounded out that gaudy box score production with 2.2 blocks and 1.5 steals per game. Garnett’s shot blocking production that year ranked 11th in the NBA.
Rudy Gobert – 2023-24, 2.1 BPG
Gobert’s second season in Minnesota was a dominant one as the 7-footer swatted 2.1 shots per game en route to winning his fourth Kia Defensive Player of the Year award. His shot-blocking ranked sixth in the league, and he also averaged a double-double with 14.0 points and 12.9 rebounds per game.
Kevin Garnett – 1996-97, 2.1 BPG
Garnett debuted a year earlier, but he officially arrived as a 20-year-old in the 1996-97 season. He made the leap to being an All-Star for the first time and swatted 2.1 shots per game while bumping his scoring average from 10.4 to 17.0. KG’s shot-swatting chops landed him ninth in the league in both BPG and total blocks. He was one of five players to average at least two blocks and 17 points per game that year, among elite company with Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal.
Eddie Griffin – 2005-06, 2.1 BPG
Griffin had a prolific defensive career that was tragically cut short when he died in a car accident in August 2007. He averaged more than 1.5 blocks in three of his first four seasons, topping out at 2.1 in 2006. Griffin’s shot blocking becomes all the more impressive considering he averaged just 19.4 minutes per game that season and made 27 starts in 70 appearances.
Darko Miličić – 2010-11, 2.0 BPG
Miličić may be most notable for being the No. 2 overall pick in a star-studded 2003 NBA Draft, but he managed to carve out a 10-year career with 468 appearances and 208 starts. His best shot-blocking season came in 2011 when he swatted 2.0 shots per game while starting nearly 70 games for the Timberwolves. The highlight from that year was when Miličić racked up seven blocks in a win over the team that drafted him, the Pistons.