The Minnesota Timberwolves drew the No. 7 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, meaning it automatically goes to the Golden State Warriors.
The Wolves entered the NBA Draft Lottery knowing they would relinquish any pick outside of the Top 3 – part of the deal that brought D’Angelo Russell to Minnesota from Golden State in February 2020.
And the worst happened as the Wolves drew No. 7, with Golden State automatically getting the pick.
A late surge of wins following the appointment of Chris Finch as head coach, the return of D’Angelo Russell from injury, and the emergence of last year’s No. 1 pick Anthony Edwards saw the Wolves go on a mini-surge up the standings towards the end of last season.
While the run of wins augurs well for the future of the franchise, it also meant the likelihood they would get another Top 3 draft pick receded.
Finishing with the 6th worst record gave them a 9% shot of landing the No. 1 pick, and 27.6% chance of landing a Top 4 pick, knowing that any pick outside the Top 3 would automatically go to Golden State as part of the Russell deal.
By contrast, teams with the three worst records had a 14% chance of getting the No. 1, and a 52.1% chance of a Top 4 pick.
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