Minnesota Timberwolves: 15 best trades in franchise history

12. Andrew Lang to Milwaukee for 1998 first-round pick.

This is the second trade from 1996 to make it onto our countdown.

This time center Andrew Lang was moved to the Milwaukee Bucks for a 1998 first-round pick. Coincidentally enough, it was the same pick Minnesota just sent to Milwaukee 16 days earlier.

Lang was coming off a season that saw him average 8.8 points and 6.1 rebounds during his lone year in Minnesota. However, he was clearly on the decline as he headed into his age 30 season.

That proved to be completely true as he averaged 3.9 points and 4.0 rebounds throughout his two seasons in Milwaukee.

The pick that Minnesota received in return ended up as the 17th overall in the 1998 NBA Draft.

With that selection, they chose Rasho Nesterovic, the seven-foot center out of Slovenia. Nesterovic had a lot of hype surrounding him as he entered the NBA but was unable to completely match that.

The good news for the Wolves is their trade-in of an aging center for a younger, fresher version.

Nesterovich played five seasons in Minnesota and was an important piece to their playoff teams. For his Wolves’ career, he averaged 7.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.

During his 2002-03 campaign, his last in Minnesota, he blossomed into a force to be reckoned with. He dropped 11.2 points, 6.5 boards and 1.5 stuffs per contest. That led him to signing a nice contract with the San Antonio Spurs the following summer and ending his time as a Timberwolf.