Minnesota Timberwolves head coach and president Flip Saunders died Sunday of cancer at the age of 60, according to Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo! Sports.
Saunders announced earlier this year that he was undergoing treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. The Timberwolves released a statement via The Timberwolves Twitter account, saying, "It is with extreme sadness that the Minnesota Timberwolves today learned that Phil 'Flip' Saunders, who served as the team's President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach, in addition to being a minority owner of the team, has passed away at age 60."
Saunders was an NBA coach for 17 years and became a head coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1995. Saunders led the Timberwolves to the playoffs eight times and had them in the Western Conference Finals in the 2003-04 season.
After Minnesota, Saunders became the Detroit Pistons head coach and led them to three Eastern Conference Finals from 2006-2008. Saunders coached for the Washington Wizards for three years after Detroit, before returning to Minnesota.
In 2013, Saunders returned to the Timberwolves as a team president and part owner and would eventually take over as coach again in 2014. Players throughout the league, such as LeBron James, have sent messages of condolences to Saunders' family and the Timberwolves organization.
Saunders played college basketball at the University of Minnesota and was named the player of the year in Ohio his senior season in high school, according to ESPN. Saunders is survived by a wife and four children.
Saunders' son Ryan is an assistant coach for the Timberwolves, and Sam Mitchell has been named interim head coach.
