In the wake of Thursday night’s NBA Draft, we’re continuing to learn a lot about new Timberwolves guard and former Providence Friar Kris Dunn.
It’s impossible to not root for a kid who has gone through everything that Dunn has, and he’s carried himself exceptionally well in the whirlwind that the past 36 hours or so have brought he and his family.
Dunn has a harrowing personal story, detailed here in a short video at ESPN, and here in a longer article from USA Today. If you have 40 minutes to spare, please listen to this podcast at The Vertical, hosted by Adrian Wojnarowski. Dunn was the guest on the show just four days ago, and tells his story in his own words.
And we also now have an insider’s perspective at what the evening was like, thanks to another fantastic piece from The Vertical. Here’s a couple of excerpts:
"Before Dunn had even shook hands with Silver, Karl Towns Sr., father of Timberwolves big man and Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns, ran by the family table to congratulate them. Dunn wiped some of the mist from his eye as he cleared the stage and stepped into the first of dozens of interviews. The tears weren’t just because Dunn had finally made it; he had also paused to reflect on how his mother, Pia, who died in 2013, wasn’t there to experience the moment with him.…An excited Karl-Anthony Towns, at Barclays Center as part of NBATV’s draft coverage, greeted Dunn with a message that the fun and games were over. “Get to work. This is work now,” Towns told the Vertical. “We gave him all the leeway time he needed getting drafted, now it’s all about winning. He’s stepping into a team that’s on the rise and we expect nothing but wins contributing from his side. Playoffs. We have the talent, we have the organization and we should be able to do it. I’m not worried about it right now. The kid has a winning attitude and I see great things for him.”Towns even gave Dunn a quiz, which aired on the big screen in the arena, in which Dunn had to identify as many Timberwolves players as he could in 24 seconds. Dunn started rattling off the roster before the images came up on the screen and had little trouble naming players, though he was momentarily stumped by Nikola Pekovic. “The kid is a student of the game,” Towns told The Vertical."
Karl-Anthony Towns is awesome, and Dunn is apparently a good dude, too. Enjoy this, Wolves fans.
Elsewhere, ESPN’s Marc Stein doubled-down on the Wolves-Bulls trade talk, saying that the Wolves “aggressively pursued” a trade for Jimmy Butler, also suggesting that the trade could still go down in the near future.
It seems unlikely that something will be consummated in the coming days, as teams are waiting for free agency to commence on July 1. There’s also the rules surrounding trading newly-drafted players that could complicate things, too.
But certainly don’t count out the possibility of a Butler trade taking place eventually, whether it’s next week, next month, or before the trade deadline in February of 2017.
Next: What Is The Timberwolves' Post-Draft Plan?
We’ll have some additional draft reaction over the weekend, as well as an initial look at the upcoming free agency period. Keep it here, folks.