In a little over the month, the 2026 NBA Draft will be taking place. The Minnesota Timberwolves will be selecting near the end of the first round with the 28th pick (barring a trade).
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Jeremy Woo posted his latest mock draft after the draft combine. He has the Wolves selecting a player that seems to fit a need in guard Meleek Thomas out of Arkansas.
Meleek Thomas would help the backcourt depth
In today’s NIL world, it isn’t easy to do a mock draft knowing that more players are deciding to go back to school. It's a tough decision for an underclassman whether they should remain in school when they are projected to go in the late first round round/early second round. The deadline to take your name out of the draft to return to college is May 27.
Thomas is one of those players where it’s still unclear what he will decide to do. This past year was his freshman season with Arkansas, and he became a full-time starter for a school that reached the Sweet 16 in the late part of January.
Turning 20 years old on August 6, Thomas is seen as a combo guard, although he played more off the ball as a freshman due to sharing the backcourt with projected lottery pick Darius Acuff. He measured at 6-foot-3 (barefoot) at the combine without shoes and has a wingspan of 6-6 3/4.
Playing 30.5 minutes per game in 2025-26, Thomas posted averages of 15.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists (just 1.0 turnovers), and 1.5 steals. His shooting percentage splits consisted of 43.5/41.6/84.3. Remarkably, he connected on 48.7 percent of his 78 3-point tries in SEC outings.
While Chris Finch hasn’t truly utilized a rookie full-time in the team’s rotation since Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels in 2020-21, perhaps Thomas would be able to carve out a role. At the same time, it's clear that they need some guard depth, which could pave the way for Thomas.
The Timberwolves will be looking to replace Donte DiVincenzo’s prowess from behind the arc as he will spend much of, if not all, the season sidelined with a torn Achilles. You'd be far-fetched to find many better spot-up shooters in this draft than Thomas.
Moreover, Ayo Dosunmu is also an unrestricted free agent, although it’s likely that Minnesota will do its darnedest to keep him; having a backup plan would benefit them.
A lot can change from now until May 27, once we officially know who will be eligible to be drafted. Someone like Thomas would be a solid pick for Minnesota, though, for his three-level scoring as well as the ability to initiate the offense at times.
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