Tom Thibodeau has had plenty of success throughout his NBA coaching career.

As an assistant, he helped lead the Celtics to a championship in 2008. As a head coach, he guided the Derrick Rose-led Bulls to five straight playoff appearances.

But Thibodeau is nothing if not stubborn. If there has been one criticism that has plagued him throughout his career, it is his tendency to run his best players into the ground, shouldering them with huge minutes each night and often ignoring his bench.

It has been no different during his second year in Minnesota. Jimmy Butler leads the NBA in minutes per game, with two more Timberwolves in the top 15 (Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns). All five of his starters are in the top 40, which, if the stats hold, would make Minnesota only the fourth team in NBA history to hold such a distinction.

“Guys get tired,” Timberwolves starting point guard Jeff Teague told The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski. “I think they need opportunities. … Hopefully Thibs sees that they can really help.”

He wasn’t the first member of his team to speak out. A month ago, forward Taj Gibson said something similar to the same reporter.

“They need more time to get a rhythm,” Gibson said about the bench. “Sometimes, they don’t really get the minutes that they deserve. Sometimes, when they mess up, they may just get snatched right out.”

And early in the season, Butler said in a postgame interview, “I need to talk to Thibs. These 40 minutes [each game] are starting to add up.”

They stopped adding up for Butler on Feb. 23, when he suffered a meniscus injury that has sidelined him indefinitely. He plans to be back for the postseason, if there is one for Minnesota.

The Timberwolves have a much more tenuous grasp on a postseason spot than they did midseason, as they try to break the NBA’s longest postseason drought. After ascending as high as the No. 3 seed on Jan. 24, they’ve gone 11-15 since, falling to the No. 8 seed with only a game and a half of wiggle room.

Gibson and Butler both played in Chicago with Thibodeau, and Butler previously led the NBA in minutes as a Bull in 2014-15 (and was second the year before). Butler was the glue of the young team after being acquired on draft night, but his injury points to a troubling trend of Thibodeau’s.

Luol Deng, who led the NBA in minutes twice under Thibodeau, is essentially finished in the NBA at age 32. Joakim Noah, who rarely sat under Thibodeau, underwent several arthroscopic knee procedures and has played in only 82 games in the past three seasons. And we all know how the Rose saga played out.

Thibodeau giving his bench some more minutes not only would allow his starters some needed rest, but might allow him to discover talent he didn’t know he had. Last season, rookie point guard Kris Dunn was buried on the Minnesota bench and averaged only 3.8 points per game. Traded to Chicago and given a greater opportunity to play, Dunn has blossomed into a starting-caliber player, scoring 13.4 points per game and averaging two steals, fourth in the league.

The modern NBA has veered toward resting players during the season in order to keep them fresh for the playoffs. James Harden and Russell Westbrook, MVP front-runners and two of the NBA’s biggest usage monsters, aren’t even in the top 10 in minutes per game. No one from defending champion Golden State is in the top 15.

There could be a lesson to be learned here for Thibodeau. If he keeps running his players into the ground, his core of Butler, Wiggins and Towns might not stay young for long.