Minnesota Timberwolves: No Wolves selected in FanSided NBA Expansion Draft

The Minnesota Timberwolves roster stayed entirely intact following the FanSided NBA Expansion Draft.

Who would the Minnesota Timberwolves protect in an expansion draft?

Sure, it’s been 16 years since the last NBA expansion draft, but FanSided has decided to move forward with some expansion of their own. That means that we had to flex our front office muscles here at Dunking With Wolves.

Tasked with protecting only three players from the current roster, site co-expert Dylan Jackson and yours truly went to work.

Minnesota Timberwolves: No Wolves selected in FanSided NBA Expansion Draft

The first two players to protect were easy: Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell. Then, there was a decision to make.

Do the fictional Minnesota Timberwolves keep Malik Beasley, despite knowing that he’s about to receive a handsome raise via restricted free agency? Or should it be a more player with some cost-certainty in the near future and a still-high ceiling that they have yet to reach? Players like Jarrett Culver and even Josh Okogie come to mind here.

Most of the rest of the roster are role-player types: Jake Layman is a reasonable value, but a role player on a role player’s contract. Jordan McLaughlin and Naz Reid are affordable young players with upside, but just how high is that upside? Juancho Hernangomez is due a raise in restricted free agency and has a much lower ceiling than Beasley. And that’s basically it.

Needless to say, we chose Beasley. Yes, we’ll have to pay him, but a Big Three of Towns, Russell, and Beasley has enough offensive firepower to go up against any team in the league.

So, given everything we’ve already established about the remaining 12 players on the Wolves roster, was anyone else snapped up by our friendly neighborhood expansion teams, the Seattle Sea Lions and the Kansas City Burnt Ends?

Short answer: no. Here’s how the draft, orchestrated by Hoops Habit’s Duncan Smith and FanSided’s Gerald Bourguet, played out in its entirety.

There were quite a few big names that were selected, from top overall pick Kemba Walker to Draymond Green at No. 6 and exciting young players like Michael Porter, Jr. at No. 19.

A trio of former Wolves were picked: Kevin Love went to Kansas City at No. 9, Robert Covington to Seattle at No. 14, and Tyus Jones to KC with the second-to-last pick at No. 23.

Be sure to check out this entire fascinating exercise at the above link. Both of these teams made out in good shape, and if there was ever any question that there’s enough talent in the league to sustain another two teams, this expansion draft suggests otherwise.

And as an added bonus for Wolves fans, the roster assembled by president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas remained 100 percent intact.