Timberwolves forward Juwan Howard would rather not serve as the mentor to a team that has nine players that are 25 years old or younger, ESPN is reporting.

Soon after superstar Kevin Garnett was dealt, Howard asked vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale and owner Glen Taylor to trade him to a contender.

"Yes I would love to play for a contender and put myself in the position to win a title before my career is over with," the 34-year-old Howard said Friday in his first public comments about the situation. "If I was 27 or 30 years old, this situation wouldn't be bad at all. That would mean I would still have time to grow with this team, because this is going to be a growing process."

"I'm like Kevin [Garnett]," Howard said. "He wanted to win a title before he's done playing and I feel the same way. But now, of course, we come to a team that has a different makeover. It's more of a young team that's building for the future.

"When I say the key word, the 'future,' that means that they're like two to four years away as far competing to have an opportunity to play in the playoffs. I'm just being honest here. Do I have that left in my career? Four years? No, I don't think so."