The NBA draft has the Minnesota Timberwolves first ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks after the lottery and now names like Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor, D'Angelo Russell, Justise Winslow and Emmanuel Mudiay could be potential targets in the top 4 for those teams when the draft picks up in June.
The Timberwolves were the worst team in the NBA last season and they bucked a recent trend by getting the top pick. The worst team has not received the number one pick in a number of years and now the Wolves have the chance to get three number one picks on their roster. The Wolves added Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett in a trade with the Cavaliers and now they are poised to add another top pick this year, likely Towns or Okafor.
The Knicks were second worst and they had the second best chance at the top pick and over a 50 percent chance of getting into the top three, but that did not happen. Some see the Knicks having wasted an entire season after getting the fourth overall pick and while a trade is a possibility, they could be better served by standing pat. Towns and Okafor are the presumptive top two picks and after that it's a crapshoot with names like Mudiay, Winslow and Willie Cauley-Stein, Myles Turner, Frank Kaminsky and Devin Booker could be options in the top 10.
The Sixers ended up with the third overall pick and the Lakers jumped up to get the number two pick, which is a selection they have not had in years. The Knicks are in at fourth and that is very disappointing, but the team should still be able to get a strong prospect at that pick. Okafor and Towns are coming in as the top names this year out of Kentucky and Duke, while Russell is emerging as a top talent out of Ohio State.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Timberwolves are looking at both Okafor and Towns as potential options, but that the team will not "necessarily take" Towns number one. Coming into the lead up to the draft, Towns is being looked at as the top prospect over Okafor, but the Wolves could end up taking him over Towns. The team has Andrew Wiggins coming in after a strong rookie season and pairing him with either Towns or Okafor could be huge for the team turning things around.
The Lakers are in the best spot of anyone, as they get the other player of the two and don't have to deal with the pressure of choosing one or the other. The team that picks first could miss big if the first pick ends up a bust and if that happens to the Lakers at number two, no one could blame for taking the player left between Towns and Okafor. The Lakers and Knicks are still expected to spend big in free agency and now both are likely adding top prospects to their teams.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo, the Knicks are likely to make the top four pick available, but they also could sit tight and keep the pick. Woj writes that the team will listen to offers for the pick this year.
