James Wiseman is the consensus best big man in the upcoming NBA Draft and he apparently does not want to be selected No. 1 overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Wiseman does not want to come to Minnesota because Karl Towns is there,” said ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on a recent appearance on Darren Wolfson’s The Scoop podcast. “From what I understand Wiseman doesn’t even want to do anything with the Wolves.”
If it’s true that Wiseman wants nothing to do with Minnesota, it might not matter considering the Wolves aren’t exactly in the market to get bigger. The Wolves need shooters and guards to help Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell push the team back into the playoffs for just the second time since 2004. And there isn’t a mock draft on the planet that projects the Wolves to take Wiseman first overall.
Making guard play even more vital is that the future of restricted free agent Malik Beasley is unknown after he was charged with felony threats of violence and fifth-degree drug possession in October. Beasley, 23, being with the Wolves long term would make picking Wiseman make more sense, but no one knows how Minnesota handle his situation.
Another reason Wiseman to the Wolves is probably a nonstarter is that Wolfson believes Minnesota will “make every effort” to trade the No. 1 pick in the Nov. 18 draft, and the team that Windhorst says wants Wiseman is Charlotte, who owns the third overall pick.
Golden State could also take Wiseman second overall, per Wiseman, which makes Charlotte and Minnesota potentially perfect trade partners.
“If you’re in the league right now there’s a pretty good feel that Wiseman is not getting past the Warriors. It depends on if Charlotte wants him bad enough to make a deal,” said Windhorst.
Who could Charlotte offer the Wolves? Devonte Graham? Future picks? A first-round pick in the 2021 draft would be big for the Wolves because they dealt their 2021 first rounder to the Warriors in the deal that involved Andrew Wiggins and Russell. Minnesota only keeps the 2021 pick if its in the top three.
It should be an entertaining couple of weeks for Wolves fans because the No. 1 pick is always surrounding by speculation. We’ll see what happens.
