The message is echoing through the Timberwolves’ locker room this week from the mouths of multiple players — this isn’t the same team as a season ago.

Which is fair. When a couple of major pieces of the puzzle are swapped — out went Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyle Anderson and in came Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo — then everything will fit together a bit differently.

But the players seem to insinuate they’re being unjustly compared to the 2023-24 Timberwolves, who won 56 games and reached the Western Conference finals, captivating the state in the process.

“Obviously, everybody knows what this team did last year,” DiVincenzo said. “Well, this team is not last year’s team. And I think we, collectively, have let that go.”

The assertion is the fan base needs to do the same.

Players do understandably get frustrated at the home crowd’s quick trigger when it comes to bellowing out boos. Minnesota can win a series of games in succession, and the moment a bad first 20 minutes of a game is put forth, the Wolves hear about it from the Target Center faithful. The same was true during Rudy Gobert’s first season in Minnesota.

You can be disappointed with a team’s performance and not feel the need to verbalize it.

But any suggestion that disappointment in this team’s performance is a product of expectations derived from last season’s success feel misguided.

The Timberwolves’ roster is a talented one. While it doesn’t feel like it at the moment, Minnesota does have eight starting-caliber players. The Wolves currently start three players who’ve earned All-NBA accolades in their career. Mike Conley is still one of the steadiest floor generals in the Association, and Jaden McDaniels is an All-NBA defensive performer.

It’s fair for a fan base to think such a collection should win a lot of games.

And it currently isn’t. Minnesota will meet the Mavericks in Dallas in a Christmas Day matinee on Wednesday. The Western Conference finals rematch is one that should have basketball fanatics beaming with excitement. It doesn’t. Not locally, where supporters are prepping for another disappointment. But that’s not delusional fandom. It’s also the national narrative surrounding this team — that the Wolves are a bummer.

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons posted on X on Monday evening jokingly asking if the NBA should “flex the Timberwolves out of Christmas.”

“Not sure we need their sullen, awkward energy,” Simmons posted. “We can get that from our own families.”

Edwards and Randle aren’t jiving. Minnesota hasn’t scored 110-plus points in regulation in 14 straight games. The Wolves’ loss to Atlanta on Monday snapped the Hawks’ three-game losing streak. Golden State has just two wins in its past seven games. Those victories have come against Minnesota and … Minnesota.

Reasons for optimism are dwindling. DiVincenzo said the Wolves are “building to something great.”

“We feel that we have something great here,” he said. “So it’s all about sticking together and building through the bumps.”

But the Wolves will have to forgive fans who are getting a little nauseous as they steer this car straight down the rumble strip. A smooth patch would certainly be welcomed by ardent supporters. A sign that better days are indeed to come.

Because a standard was set by last year’s team. It’s every organization’s aspiration to set a high bar that it can match or clear year after year, even as names and faces change. It’s a driver of sustained success.

And it’s something that should be embraced, not lamented.