The Minnesota Timberwolves Are So, So, So Screwed

The Minnesota Timberwolves Are in Big Trouble

The 2021 NBA Draft Lottery has come and gone, and the Detroit Pistons will select first overall in next month’s draft. I just released Mock Draft 2.0, so be sure to check that out. Our guy Garrett put out his SimBull winners and losers from the Draft Lottery, which is a really great post with one glaring omission: The Minnesota Timberwolves were massive losers on Draft Lottery night. Maybe the biggest losers of any team in the league.

Minnesota finished the 2020-21 NBA season with a 23-49 record. This was the sixth-worst record in the NBA and the third-worst in the Western Conference. Such a poor standing gave the T-wolves a 27.6% chance of landing a top-three selection in the 2021 NBA Draft. Anything outside the top three would confer the first-rounder to the Golden State Warriors as part of the prior Andrew Wiggins trade. Their pick fell to No. 7 overall in the lottery and thus became the Warriors’ pick. That was the only possible draft pick Minnesota would have had in the first round.

The Timberwolves Have Zero First-Round Picks in the Upcoming Draft

Even though the season is over, the Timberwolves are still finding ways to lose. With a 72.4% chance of losing their pick going into the Draft Lottery, they set themselves up for failure long before the draft order was even decided. With zero first-round picks in 2021, Minnesota now has to try and get pieces through free agency, and Minnesota is a tough sell with its freezing climate and small market. It looks like the Timberwolves will run it back with Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and D’Angelo Russell, but they obviously need more given how poorly they performed this past season. A deep 2021 draft class provided a perfect opportunity for them to add a solid piece, and now they can’t make that happen.

This was not a good draft for the Timberwolves to go and lose a top-10 draft pick. A lot needs to happen to make this team more competitive, even with Anthony Edwards on the roster. Minnesota set themselves back another year by relinquishing their 2021 first-rounder in the Andrew Wiggins deal, and they will not be worth a SimBull investment for a good while. Big yikes.

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