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Minnesota Timberwolves NBA Draft 2020 Prospect Profile: Aleksej Pokusevski

By Zach Lung

There are no pictures of Aleksej Pokusevski, so here is head coach Ryan Saunders of the Minnesota Timberwolves. (Photo by Justin Tafoya/Getty Images)
There are no pictures of Aleksej Pokusevski, so here is head coach Ryan Saunders of the Minnesota Timberwolves. (Photo by Justin Tafoya/Getty Images) /
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Minnesota Timberwolves
There are no pictures of Aleksej Pokusevski, so here is head coach Ryan Saunders of the Minnesota Timberwolves. (Photo by Justin Tafoya/Getty Images) /

Could 18-year-old Aleksej Pokusevski be the the type of high risk, high reward play that the Minnesota Timberwolves take a chance on?

The Minnesota Timberwolves have a busy week ahead of them as all eyes are on the team holding the fate of the 2020 NBA Draft.

With three of the top 33 picks, Minnesota holds all the cards for next Wednesday’s draft. Rumors are already swirling as the front office explores trading up, down, or out with any number of their picks.

Minnesota’s biggest dilemma heading into the draft is the team’s lack of overall talent outside of its two stars, Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell.

The No. 1 overall pick has been extensively analyzed as the golden ticket of this year’s draft but it is also crucial that Minnesota hits on their later picks as well. This year’s draft class is fairly deep with a number of intriguing prospects projected to go in the latter half of the first round — also known as the part of the draft where general managers truly earn their salary.

High impact players such as Caris LeVert (No. 20 pick, 2016 draft), Donovan Mitchell (No. 13, 2017), Bam Adebayo (No. 14, 2017), and Michael Porter, Jr. (No. 14, 2018) have all heard their names called in the middle stage of the first round. The Timberwolves hope that this year’s No. 17 pick can make the type of impact that some of those players have had early in their careers.

One intriguing prospect that may be available at No. 17 is Serbian big man Aleksej Pokusevski.

At 7-foot and only 195 pounds, Pokusevski is the most unique prospect in the entire draft. He has the height of a center but the playmaking and shooting touch of a guard. Most of his game tape looks like a tall kid playing in a high school gym in front of a crowd of parents and bored relatives.

Pokusevski is the type of boom-or-bust player that causes Twitter to explode with fan accounts. Is Pokusevski’s potential worth the risk for a Minnesota franchise that cannot afford to miss on any draft picks?