Minnesota takes Edwards as GMs stick to the plan
For all the talk of trades, top three prospects were the top three picks
No one at the top of the NBA draft board blinked.
Even with months to contemplate trades and talk themselves in and out of possible selections, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Hornets divvied up the perceived top three prospects as expected on Tuesday night.
Minnesota’s president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas promised to be aggressive about entertaining trade offers for the top pick but ultimately opted to keep it. The Timberwolves chose Georgia shooting guard Anthony Edwards first overall, adding him to a core of Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell, the top two picks in 2015.
Rosas reportedly conducted more than 1,000 interviews trying to figure out which player to take or which trade to pursue as he puts his imprint on a chronically underachieving Minnesota roster.
“I’ve got two superstars alongside of me, so I’m not really going to feel too much pressure,” Edwards said. “But I’m going to do what I always do, bring what I bring to the table, and just impact the game other ways. They already can score the ball, so defensively I’m going to impact the game.”
The Golden State Warriors, stung by news that all-star guard Klay Thompson suffered a leg injury during a pick up game in Los Angeles on Wednesday and had to be helped out of the gym, stayed with the expected and took Memphis big man James Wiseman with the second choice.
There were no immediate reports on the severity of Thompson’s injury. He missed the entire 2019-20 season recovering from a torn knee ligament suffered in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Raptors.
“As soon as I saw it, it was kind of down for me emotionally,” Wiseman said of the Thompson injury news. “But as a team we’ve got his back no matter what, and he’s going to be in great recovery. And in terms of my perspective, I just can’t wait to go in there and give my great contribution toward the team. Go in there and learn as much as possible, grow and adapt within that environment and play my position.”
And the Charlotte Hornets, who already have Terry Rozier and Devonte Graham in the backcourt, took guard LaMelo Ball, who played professionally in Australia last year, with the No. 3 selection.
“I feel like I fit anywhere real good, and definitely the point forward I feel like could work because it’s definitely positionless basketball now,” Ball said. “You can just get in and go … I’m going to be exciting.”
Edwards, Wiseman and Ball were seen as the top prospects available in the draft, even if the order they would go in was in debate right up until the proceedings began.
The draft will shape teams for years, they hope, but the immediate impact on the Raptors may have been something that did not happen.
An expected sign-and-trade deal that would have sent Bogdan Bogdanovic from Sacramento to the Milwaukee Bucks — a deal that would have given the Raptors’ rivals a proven shooter to go along with Giannis Antetokounmpo — has reportedly fallen apart because the Kings had not cleared the deal with Bogdanovic.
If it is not completed, it could have repercussions not only on this season but perhaps on Antetokounmpo’s long-term future in Milwaukee. He is eligible to sign a contract extension but wanted to see concrete moves made to improve the Bucks. The acquisition of Bogdanovic would have been one. Watching moves made around them has become a daily ritual for the Toronto brass since the pandemic-induced trade moratorium was lifted Monday.
“We’ve been out of business here for nine months so we fully expected stuff to happen,” Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said this week. “Obviously there are some meaningful names and significant players being reported but you know us, we’re aware of it, we’re constantly calibrating and recalibrating how we think if it affects us or how we don’t think it affects us, but we’ll see how the chips fall maybe after (Wednesday) night.”
The most notable of the lottery picks was Deni Avdija, who went ninth overall to Washington and became the highest drafted Israeli player.
“As much motivation as I can bring to the young players, that’s a blessing for me. I will do everything to promote it,” the guard said.
“Hopefully I have the chance after my career for more. I’m just glad that they have somebody to look at and learn and just be motivated and to see that us being a small country doesn’t mean that we can’t do big things. We did big things, and we’re going to keep doing big things, and I’m here to help to everybody. And to anybody who needs my advice, I’m going to always give it.”