RandBall: Mock draft says Wolves will select a Wolf in next month’s NBA Draft

In many seasons of the Timberwolves’ history, May and June (and let’s be honest, a good part of April and perhaps the winter months as well) was spent obsessing over which prospect they might take in the NBA draft to turn around the franchise’s fortunes.

History is littered with players who tried but couldn’t lift the Wolves out of their doldrums, a pattern that was finally broken after the 2020 draft sent both Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels to Minnesota.

They are young cornerstones of a contending nucleus that could be playing until June 22 this season — the absurd but true date of Game 7 of the NBA Finals — as fans have traded draft speculation for a second consecutive run to the Western Conference finals starting Tuesday at Oklahoma City.

Patrick Reusse and I broke down their chances on Monday’s Daily Delivery podcast.

But the NBA draft is still happening a mere three days after the last possible date the finals end. The Wolves hold the No. 17 pick, a lottery-protected bounty via Detroit that was conveyed this season from the Karl-Anthony Towns trade after the Pistons had a surprisingly strong season.

The Wolves have depth to spare on this year’s roster, even if they are mostly running eight deep in the playoffs. But having a first-round pick this season and the first pick in the second round (No. 31 overall via Utah) could help them re-stock with youth for years to come or facilitate a trade for more established help.

As such, it is useful to peek in on the NBA draft speculation a little over a month out. And it is rather amusing that ESPN’s mock draft has the Wolves choosing a Wolf.

Obviously they are choosing a Wolf, you might say. They aren’t going to draft a Hawk and certainly not a Maverick.

Ah, more specifically: Michigan power forward Danny Wolf.

The name fits, and it looks like his game might as well. Wolf is close to 7-feet in shoes with a wingspan more than 7-2. He averaged 13.2 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 blocks for the Wolverines as a junior after playing his first two seasons at Yale. He’s a 34% career three-point shooter on decent volume as well.

The logic of sending a power forward to the Wolves is solid, too, given that Julius Randle and Naz Reid have player options next season. Keeping both players would be expensive (and perhaps cost-prohibitive), and while that’s a problem for the summer and not the present, it is something to consider.

Whatever the Wolves decide to do with their picks should help them extend this window of contention well into the future.

In other words, it might be a while until Wolves fans have to obsess about the draft like the not-so-good old days.