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Ryan Saunders' wife gives birth on what would've been Flip's 70th birthday

Saunders' newborn daughter shares a birthday with her late grandfather.
Will Ragatz|
Dec 1, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Denver Nuggets assistant coach Ryan Saunders against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center.
Dec 1, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Denver Nuggets assistant coach Ryan Saunders against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center. | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

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Minnesota Timberwolves

This is pretty cool: Former Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders' wife, Hayley, gave birth to the couple's daughter on Sunday — meaning the newest member of the family shares a birthday with her late grandfather Flip. WCCO's Chad Hartman shared the exciting news on X/Twitter on Monday:

Grace is the Saunders' second child, following their son Lucas, who was born in 2019.

Flip Saunders was born in Cleveland on February 23, 1955. He went on to play basketball at the University of Minnesota before launching a coaching career that lasted nearly 40 years. Saunders coached the Timberwolves from 1995 to 2005 during the peak years of the Kevin Garnett era, then had stints coaching the Pistons and Wizards before returning as the Wolves' president of basketball operations in 2013 and taking over as head coach again in 2014.

In October 2015, a few months after the franchise had selected Karl-Anthony Towns with the No. 1 overall pick, Saunders passed away from Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Ryan Saunders, born in 1986, played for the Gophers as a walk-on after graduating from Wayzata High School. He got his first NBA job on Flip's Wizards staff in 2009, then followed his dad to Minnesota in 2014. Saunders took over as the Wolves' interim head coach when Tom Thibodeau was fired in January 2019, holding that role until he was fired and replaced with Chris Finch in February 2021. Saunders has been an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets since 2022.

Exactly 70 years after Flip was born, his granddaughter Grace came into the world. Congratulations to Ryan, Hayley, and the Saunders family.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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