Ryan Saunders fills head coaching position for Timberwolves

Following the firing of Tom Thibodeau on Jan. 6, Ryan Saunders took over as the interim head coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Ryan Saunders is currently the youngest coach in the NBA at 32-years-old, and he got his first win on Jan. 9 during his coaching debut versus the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The game was a narrow victory with a final score of 119-117. Wiggins lead the game with 40 points, while Karl-Anthony Towns scored 20 and gathered 9 rebounds.

After the game, the players swarmed Saunders to celebrate his first career win. The Timberwolves have taken kindly to their new coach’s hiring with many praising him already.

“He stayed as composed as anybody tonight. Gave us positive energy. Kept telling us to fight and kept making the right moves,” said Towns, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.

“He was playing chess the whole night and came out with checkmate,” Towns said.

Ryan Saunders is the son of former Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders, who passed away in 2015 due to cancer at age 60. To honor his father, Ryan ran his father’s favorite play, “452 twist,” to start the game.

“I only told my mother before the game. I had an idea that we might be able to get something off of it,” Saunders said.

“I didn’t know if it was necessarily going to work out, but I had to, just in an ode to him. I’d feel good about myself if I ran his favorite play, first play of the game,” Saunders said after the game.