A week ago, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas acknowledged that the 2020 draft class features no clear-cut top choice. However, it sounds like the team is comfortable with its options. On a Wednesday conference call with reporters, including Chris Hine of The Star Tribune, executive VP Sachin Gupta said the Wolves are prepared to make the first overall selection:
“We feel pretty good about where we’re at. We’re ready to pick. There is still information flowing in from different prospects. The NBA is doing a great job trying to salvage the draft combine process and predraft process. … But we feel really good about where we’re at the at the top of the draft and are ready to pick if we have to.”
As Gupta alluded to, teams still have a few weeks to conduct up to a total of 10 private, in-person workouts with prospects, and those sessions might influence draft-day decisions. Still, it sounds as if the Wolves have a pretty good sense of which player they’ll draft first overall if they keep the pick. Trading out of No. 1 also remains a possibility, according to Gupta:
“We’re having conversations and by those conversations, we’ll get a better sense of what (the No. 1 pick is) worth. Those conversations are happening and will continue to happen, and we’re wide open. But I know we’re very happy picking at the top, but certainly teams are inquiring and we’ll get back to them.”
Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball have been identified most frequently as presumed Minnesota targets at No. 1, but there’s no guarantee the team will opt for one of those two guards. The Wolves have been keeping their cards close to the vest, and this year feels a little like 2013, when four or five prospects were still in play for the No. 1 pick leading up to draft day. We’ll find out in three weeks what the club ultimately decides.
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