Minnesota Timberwolves draft picks of the last 10 years: Where are they now?
By Ben Beecken
2015 Draft
Tragically, the 2015 draft was Flip Saunders’ final one at the helm of the Wolves. Later that summer, it was announced that Saunders had been diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, and that he would take a leave from the team. He passed away in October.
It was also the only year in franchise history that saw the Timberwolves land the No. 1 overall draft pick. When they won the lottery, there was a real debate about whether the Wolves would select Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns or Duke’s Jahlil Okafor with the top pick.
There was, however, plenty of league-wide momentum for Towns as the top prospect, and Saunders ultimately came around to the idea of grabbing the versatile big man over the more traditional option in Okafor.
The Wolves made the right pick, of course, as Towns won the Rookie of the Year award and was an All-Star by his third season as a pro. He has been head and shoulders above any other players from the 2015 class, too: Towns’ Win Shares of 45.4 are more than twice as high as any other individual selected that season.
As for Okafor, he slid to No. 3 after the Los Angeles Lakers took D’Angelo Russell at No. 2. Okafor has had some injury problems but overall hasn’t been very effective when on the court. He’s played in only 190 games over four seasons, an average of just 47.5 games per year, and is already on his third team.
The Wolves also held pick Nos. 31 and 36 in the draft, two valuable early second-round selections. Saunders packaged them together to trade up to No. 24 and select Minnesota native and Final Four Outstanding Player Tyus Jones, who had just wrapped up his freshman year at Duke.
Jones only appeared in 37 games as a rookie but upped that to 60 the following year in Tom Thibodeau’s first campaign at the helm. He didn’t start a game until the 2017-18 season, and he emerged as one of the best assist-to-turnover guys in the league in short order. Over his final two years in Minnesota, Jones was arguably the league’s best backup point guard, although his outside shooting stroke never quite developed.
The Wolves allowed Jones to leave in restricted free agency this summer, and he ended up with the rebuilding Memphis Grizzlies.
The selection of Jones was a smart one, and all things considered, the 2015 draft was absolutely one of the best in Timberwolves history.