Minnesota Timberwolves’ offseason wish list: A top-3 draft pick
The NBA Draft lottery odds blessed the Minnesota Timberwolves when they were awarded with the first overall selection in the 2020 NBA Draft. With that pick, they took Georgia wing Anthony Edwards.
This year, things are a bit different. The Golden State Warriors own the Timberwolves’ draft pick as part of the D’Angelo Russell/Andrew Wiggins swap.
That said, general manager Gersson Rosas was smart enough to attach a protection to the pick. If it lands within the top-3 of the lottery, the Warriors will receive the Minnesota 2022 first-round pick instead.
This would be an excellent year to have a top-3 pick, with all of the top-5 prospects in the 2021 draft class (Cunningham, Mobley, Green, Suggs, Kuminga) being a higher-caliber of prospect than any of the top-3 players at the top of the 2020 class.
Presumably, the top-3 players on the Timberwolves’ board would be Cunningham, Mobley, and Suggs, with Rosas alluding to Mobley possibly being their favorite in his end-of-season press conference, noting that the depth in this year’s draft class was really good.
Cunningham could slot in right away as the starting small forward, should the Timberwolves get the first overall pick. He does not have any major weaknesses in his game as a 6-foot-8 shot creator. Cunningham, a great defender, also has the ability to shoot, post up, and often carried Oklahoma State during stretches of games last season in college.