Minnesota Timberwolves draft history

Kevin Garnett was drafted fifth overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1995.

The Minnesota Timberwolves first participated in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft on June 27, 1989, about five months before their inaugural NBA season. The Timberwolves are currently the second NBA team to be based in Minneapolis since the Minneapolis Lakers were there from 1948 to 1960.

Before each draft, an NBA draft lottery determines the first round selection order for the teams that did not make the playoffs during the prior season.[1] Teams can also trade their picks, which means that a team could have more than or less than two picks in one draft. As a result of the various trades, the Minnesota Timberwolves had four draft picks in 1992 and 2006. The Timberwolves drafted Pooh Richardson with their first ever draft pick, tenth overall, in the 1989 NBA draft. In 1995, the Timberwolves picked Kevin Garnett fifth overall, who went on to be a 15-time All-Star.[2] In 1996, the Timberwolves drafted Ray Allen fifth overall but was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks with a future first-round pick for the draft rights of Stephon Marbury.[3] In the 2008 NBA draft, the Timberwolves drafted O. J. Mayo third overall but was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies along with three other players from the Timberwolves for the draft rights to Kevin Love along with three other players from the Grizzlies.[4] The Timberwolves have landed the first overall pick twice in franchise history, selecting Karl-Anthony Towns in the 2015 NBA draft and Anthony Edwards in the 2020 NBA draft.

  1. ^ "Evolution of the Draft and Lottery". NBA.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-03. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
  2. ^ "2010 All-Star Player Profile: Kevin Garnett". NBA.com. Archived from the original on 2010-05-23. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  3. ^ "Marbury Learns Like a Pro". NY Daily News.com. Retrieved 2008-07-18.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference a2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).