When was the last time the Minnesota Timberwolves played in a conference finals and what happened?

In 1989, NBA basketball returned to the Twin Cities for the first time since the Minneapolis Lakers (1947-1960) moved to Los Angeles in 1960. In 2003 Rob Babcock was promoted to vice president of player personnel and, along with general manager Kevin McHale, made strategic offseason moves to strengthen the team. They traded Joe Smith and Terrell Brandon for Ervin Johnson, Sam CassellAnd Latrell Sprewell. They also signed Fred Hoiberg, Michael Olowokandi, Trenton Hassell, Troy Hudson and Mark Madsen.

Despite injuries to a revitalized Olowokandi (who missed half the season) and sixth-rounder Wally Szczerbiak (who only played in 28 games), the revitalized Timberwolves became the team to beat in the 2003–04 NBA season and finished the NBA season as the top seed Western Conference with a record of 58–24. It was Kevin Garnett's best season, Sprewell and Cassell were also outstanding. Garnett and Cassell made the All-Star team Garnett earned 1st Team All-NBA honors and his first MVP award, averaging 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.

During the 2004 NBA playoffs The Wolves won their first-ever playoff series against the Denver Nuggets before defeating the Sacramento Kings in a hard-fought seven-game series to advance to the franchise's first Western Conference Finals. Kevin Garnett jumped on the scoresheet after winning Game 7 in the Sacramento series that became one of the most iconic moments in Minnesota sports history. The Timberwolves' run ended in the Western Conference Finals when the team lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. Sam Cassell injured his groin in Game 7 against the Kings while doing his infamous big-ball dance after knocking down the game-winning basket, and as a result played sparingly during the Lakers series. Many in the NBA, including both Flip Saunders and Phil Jackson, believe that if he had been healthy, the Wolves would have made it to the Finals.