Minnesota Timberwolves head coach and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders passed away Sunday at the age of 60 after battling cancer for the past several months.
Here's a press release from the organization:
Saunders announced in August that he has been battling Hodgkin lymphoma. At that time, he took an indefinite leave from the team.
Just two days ago, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor announced that Saunders wouldn't be returning to the team this year:
"Not this year," Taylor said (h/t ESPN.com). "I just think his illness, I mean, it's serious. At this point, if he came back I still think he'd have a hard time to recover all his energy and all that because he has been in the hospital for a long time."
Saunders, who was also the part owner of the Timberwolves, coached the team from 1995-2005 before spending eight years as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards. He returned to the Timberwolves in the president and head coach role back in 2014.
Saunders led his teams to the playoffs 11 times over the course of his extensive career.
He's survived by his wife, Debbie, and their four children.
Our thoughts go out to the Saunders' family and the entire Timberwolves organization.