The Minnesota Timberwolves revealed its new team identity for its NBA Development League affiliate, the Iowa Energy, on Tuesday in Des Moines.

Say hello to the Iowa Wolves.

Glen Taylor (majority owner), Tom Thibodeau (head coach and president of basketball operations) and Ethan Casson (chief executive officer) of the Timberwolves, as well as NBA D-League President Malcolm Turner were at the news conference Tuesday.

"This is a big part of who we are, and our goal is to win a championship," Thibodeau said during the news conference. "If you study the history of our team, the foundation was built with minor-league players who came up and did great things for us.

"... Now we'll have a chance where we can use our system, our terminology and it will be a very useful tool for us."

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Minnesota announced that it would buy the Wolves earlier this year, with the purchase finalizing in March. Iowa's previous hybrid partnership with the Memphis Grizzlies ended after this past season.

Prior to its partnership with the Grizzlies, the Wolves was affiliated with seven different NBA teams between 2007-2014, including serving as Minnesota’s affiliate for the 2013-14 campaign.

“We look forward to finding ways that these two teams can support each other through marketing, corporate partnerships and ticket sales," Casson said in a news release Tuesday. "We’ll also look for ways we can integrate ourselves and help support the local community.”

Iowa won divisional titles in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014 and captured the NBA D-League crown in 2011.

At 230 miles apart, Minnesota and the Wolves makes sense. The teams can exchange players quickly. Thibodeau told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune back in January that "the teams that have utilized the D-League best, proximity is really important."

"The growth of this league and the benefits to having both younger and veteran players alike gain playing time is invaluable," Thibodeau said in Tuesday's news release. "We will be very hands on with the basketball staff here, ensuring they teach players how we want to do things at the NBA level.”

In addition to Iowa's new team identity, the NBA D-League is also transitioning into a new branding of its own. It was announced in February that the minor-league basketball organization would be become the NBA Gatorade League (NBA G-League) at the start of the 2017-18 season.

Iowa finished last season 12-38, ranking last out of the six-team Southwest Division. There are now 26 NBA D-League teams.

A schedule for the 2017-18 campaign has yet to be released, but Iowa will continue playing its home games at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

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