T’Wolves’ hot streak is bad news for Warriors

Securing their spot in the Western Conference playoffs isn’t the Warriors’ only focus this week when they glance at the NBA standings. With an eye toward solidifying their future, Golden State is also keeping tabs on the Minnesota Timberwolves.

And the Warriors aren’t liking what they’ve been seeing. Owners of the league’s worst or second-worst record for most of the season, the Timberwolves’ recent hot streak has diminished the value of their top 3 protected first-round pick Golden State received in the Andrew Wiggins trade.

Heading into play Tuesday, Minnesota had won six of its last 10 games to climb to a 2247 record, good for just the sixthworst record in the league. The surging T’Wolves also assured themselves they won’t be the league’s worst or second-worst team.

What does this mean for the Warriors? It means they’ll still need a little luck in next month’s NBA Lottery. As long as the Timberwolves don’t win one of the top three spots when the pingpong balls are dropped June 22, the Warriors will own that pick in a draft with five potential All-Stars. Unfortunately for the Warriors, they’re likely to pick no higher than sixth unless Minnesota starts losing again with three games left.

According to Tankathon.com, the Warriors entered Tuesday with just a 9.6 percent chance of getting the fourth overall pick, no chance at No. 5 (league-worst Houston is assured of no worse than the fifth pick), an 8.6 percent chance to land No. 6, and a little more than a 50 percent shot of choosing No. 7 or No. 8.

Of course, the worst-case scenario for the Warriors would be if the Timberwolves were lottery winners and landed either of the first three picks. That would mean the pick would convey to the Warriors at next year’s draft, no matter where Minnesota finished. The rough part of that scenario is that a Top 3 pick in this loaded draft would team up with Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and De’Angelo Russell to make Minnesota a much better team next year and further diminish the value of the Warriors’ pick.

Want some good draft news? On Wednesday night, the Warriors officially retained their first-round pick they conditionally traded to Oklahoma City for Kelly Oubre Jr. The Warriors had to finish with one of the league’s 10 best records in order to relinquish the choice, and they’re currently slotted with the 17th overall pick.

The importance of the Warriors’ likely two first-round picks this year is that the better their value the better chances Golden State has to perhaps trade them for an All-Star caliber player.

Now, if they could just get a little cooperation from the Timberwolves.