BREAKING: Minnesota Timberwolves win the NBA Draft Lottery and will have the No. 1 overall pick. pic.twitter.com/K0YPnzj8YT
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 20, 2015
Lady Luck was finally on the side of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The team ended up with the first pick in next month’s NBA Draft after they won the NBA’s Draft Lottery Tuesday night, for the first time in team history.
The Wolves had the best chance for the top pick, with 250 of the 1,000 possible combinations from the 14 ping pong balls used in the lottery, but those team’s haven’t always had the best luck.
FOX Sports North notes it’s the first time that a team with the best odds has gotten the top pick since 2004, and just the third time that’s happened in the last two decades.
The Los Angeles Lakers received the No. 2 pick, and the third pick went to Philadelphia.
Wolves owner Glen Taylor wasn’t giving any hints about which way Minnesota might go with the pick.
Glen Taylor: "We just want someone with a great heart and a great mind." That could be Okafor or Towns or anyone. Not giving any hints.
— Marcus R. Fuller (@Marcus_R_Fuller) May 20, 2015
Most experts believe the top two picks in the draft will be Duke’s Jahlil Okafor and Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns. Both fit the needs for the Wolves and would also give them a special threat inside to go with last year’s top-pick Andrew Wiggins.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, most teams prefer Towns to Okafor, but the early reports indicate that Wolves president Flip Saunders may like Okafor, but Saunders can be hard to read.
“First of all, as the Kevin Love trade saga showed, Saunders is perfectly willing to misdirect. Even if he says he prefers Okafor, Saunders doesn’t necessarily prefer Okafor.
Plus, he might not even know his choice yet. Neither Towns or Okafor participated in the combine, and the Timberwolves will surely try to bring in both for visits.”
Which ever Minnesota chooses, the draft pick will mean the Wolves have the last three top picks on their roster.
The T-Wolves will have the last THREE #1 picks. Anthony Bennett, Andrew Wiggins and this years pick.
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) May 20, 2015
The NBA Draft is June 25.
