Minnesota Timberwolves draft picks of the last 10 years: Where are they now?

2017 and 2016 Drafts

The Timberwolves don’t have anyone on their current roster who was acquired by the team on draft night in either 2017 or 2016.

Since we’re working backwards, we’ll start with 2017. The Wolves agreed to a trade on draft night that brought Jimmy Butler to Minnesota along with the No. 16 pick in the draft in exchange for the No. 7 pick, Zach LaVine, and Kris Dunn — more on Dunn in a moment.

The Bulls selected Arizona’s Lauri Markannen while the Wolves grabbed Creighton’s Justin Patton at No. 16. At the time, it was seen as a lopsided trade in Minnesota’s favor.

As it turns out, Markannen has been a solid pro, although his injury struggles have been an issue. He’s shooting 36.2 percent from 3-point range over two seasons with the Bulls, which is solid but not quite what many were expecting from Markannen after he made 42.3 percent of his long-range attempts in his lone season at the collegiate level.

Patton injured his foot during offseason workouts and re-injured it during the G League season. He ultimately healed and appeared in the final regular season game for the Wolves in 2017-18. Patton got hurt again in the offseason, however, and was shipped to Philadelphia as part of the next Butler trade in November of 2018. He played in three games for the Sixers before he was waived in April.

Patton was an intriguing prospect but is yet another big man that couldn’t get out of the way of a series of foot injuries.

Back in 2016, the Wolves picked Kris Dunn with the No. 5 pick in the draft despite Ricky Rubio and Tyus Jones both being on the roster at the time. Still on the board? Sharpshooter Buddy Hield and combo guard Jamal Murray, who were selected with pick Nos. 6 and 7, respectively, and have had far more effective pro careers to date.

This was a big mistake, as Dunn was bad as a rookie and while he was part of the haul sent to Chicago to acquire Butler, he has struggled with the Bulls, too, shooting just 41.7 percent from the floor as a pro and playing in just 98 total games over the past two years.

Imagine if the Wolves would have picked Hield or Murray. Maybe they would have been included in the Butler trade, but maybe not. Perhaps it would have been Wiggins instead.

We’ll never know, of course, so let’s not spend too much time dwelling on it…