9 players the Minnesota Timberwolves gave up on too soon

Number VII: Donyell Marshall

The Minnesota Timberwolves selected forward Donyell Marshall with the fourth overall pick of the 1994 NBA Draft, but only played him 40 games that season before putting him on the trade block. The Timberwolves parlayed just acquired Marshall into a trade with the Golden State Warriors that netted veteran forward Tom Gugliotta.

There is no doubt that Gugliotta’s next 3+ seasons with the Timberwolves worked out well. In fact, his next four seasons were arguably some of the best of Gugliotta’s career. But at the turn of the century, Guglotta’s production plummeted. By that time he was well beyond the reach of the Timberwolves, as he was competing for the Phoenix Suns.

But what of Marshall? He was still taking a licking and kept on ticking. His productive years extended well into the 2005-06 NBA season. All the while, his perimeter shooting continued to improve, topping 40 percent from the 2003-04 NBA season and holding that incredible shooting through the following 2004-05 season.

Marshall would end his NBA career of 15 seasons by competing for eight teams. So it’s safe to say that he lived his NBA life out of a suitcase. Still, the Timberwolves cashed in one of the better perimeter shooters of his time for a high-volume scorer. There were surely occasions when Marshall’s presence on the Timberwolves roster would have been quite positive.