Every Timberwolves Draft Pick From the Last Five Years and Where They Are Now

The NBA Draft is important to different teams for different reasons. Some teams are trying to find the next superstar with a top pick who can save their franchise. Other teams need rotational depth that can develop into a starting-caliber player.

For the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have traded away all their first-round picks, the NBA Draft is about finding diamonds in the rough —players who can fill out a Playoff rotation at spots in the Draft where that level of talent is not usually found.

The Timberwolves have made the Playoffs each of the last five seasons. After each of those seasons, the goal during the NBA Draft is to find someone who can help them win games while still on their inexpensive rookie-scale contract.

2021: No Pick

The Timberwolves did not make a single pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. The previous season, they traded their first-round pick to the Golden State Warriors along with Andrew Wiggins in exchange for D'Angelo Russell.

The Warriors ended up with the seventh overall pick. In what now looks like serendipity, they selected Jonathan Kuminga, who ended up with the Timberwolves this offseason after a drawn-out free-agency journey.

2022: Walker Kessler, Wendell Moore Jr., Josh Minott and Matteo Spagnolo

Following a 46-36 season that ended in six games at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Timberwolves started the 2022 NBA Draft with the 19th overall pick. They later traded that 19th pick for both the 22nd and 29th picks.

With the 22nd pick, the Timberwolves picked Walker Kessler out of Auburn. Kessler's time with the Wolves was short-lived, as just a month later he was traded to the Utah Jazz, along with a whole lot of other players and picks, for Rudy Gobert.

Kessler spent four seasons in Utah, putting up 9.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game. After playing just five games last season, he was signed and traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he'll play next to Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves.

Just a few picks later, the Timberwolves traded their recently received 29th overall pick and a second-round pick to move up to the 26th pick, where they selected Wendell Moore Jr. out of Duke University. Moore Jr. was never able to carve out a role for himself in Minnesota, playing a total of only 228 minutes across two seasons.

Following the 2023-24 season, the Wolves traded Moore Jr. to the Detroit Pistons in a cost-cutting transaction. Over the next two seasons, Moore Jr. played in a total of 42 NBA games with the Pistons and the Charlotte Hornets. Moore Jr. is now out of the NBA, as he signed with Italy's Virtus Bologna back in July.

In the second round, the Wolves picked Josh Minott and Matteo Spagnolo. Minott, similar to Moore Jr., was never able to carve out a role in Minnesota, averaging fewer than six minutes per game across three seasons.

Last summer, Minott signed a two-year, $5 million deal with the Boston Celtics. The Celtics traded Minott to the Brooklyn Nets at the trade deadline, where he had a solid close to the season, putting up 10.8 points per game over 16 games.

Spagnolo has not yet come to the NBA, and his draft rights were recently traded from the Wolves to the Hornets in the LaMelo Ball trade. He currently plays for Saski Baskonia in Spain.

2023: Leonard Miller and Jaylen Clark

The Timberwolves did not make a first-round selection in 2023, but did pick up a pair of intriguing second-round picks, Leonard Miller and Jaylen Clark. Miller, in what is becoming a bit of a pattern, received very little playing time during his two-and-a-half seasons with the Timberwolves.

At this past trade deadline, Miller was traded, along with another player on this list, to the Chicago Bulls for Ayo Dosunmu. Miller played well on a tanking Bulls team, averaging 11.7 points and 5.8 rebounds across 27 games, including 12 in the starting lineup.

Clark missed all of his rookie season while he recovered from an Achilles injury sustained back in college. Since returning from injury, Clark has proven to be one of the Wolves' best young defenders and has the opportunity to be one of the best second-round picks in franchise history.

Clark's offensive game is still fairly limited. The three-point shot, especially, will need to improve from his 32.7 percent last season. Given Clark's high motor and defensive skills, there will likely be a place for him in the Wolves' rotation next season.

2024: Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr.

The Wolves took a big swing during the 2024 NBA Draft as they traded a 2031 unprotected first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for the eighth overall pick, with which they took an undersized guard out of the University of Kentucky, Rob Dillingham.

That swing proved pretty quickly to be a pretty huge whiff as Dillingham struggled greatly to put the ball in the basket, as he shot 41.1 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from beyond the arc during his season and a half in Minnesota.

The Timberwolves traded Dillingham, along with the aforementioned Miller, to the Bulls for Dosunmu at the trade deadline last season. Dillingham performed slightly better with Chicago, but still struggled greatly with his efficiency, shooting 42.8 percent from the field and 30 percent from three.

Later in the night, with the 27th overall pick, the Timberwolves selected Terrence Shannon Jr., a college star out of the University of Illinois. Shannon Jr. has had a pair of up-and-down regular seasons in Minnesota, but has had a standout moment in each of the last two postseasons.

In 2025, Shannon Jr. played extraordinarily well against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, including a 15-point performance in the Game 3 win. Last season, Shannon Jr. stepped up following injuries to Donte DiVincenzo and Anthony Edwards with 24 points in a closeout Game 6 victory over the Denver Nuggets.

Shannon Jr. projects to play a fairly sizable role in the Timberwolves' rotation this season, as Chris Finch and the coaching staff look to solve the problem of Shannon Jr.'s viability when the ball is not in his hands.

2025: Joan Beringer and Rocco Zikarsky

When the Timberwolves traded Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle on the eve of training camp in 2024, they received a protected Pistons first-round pick. For the pick to convey to Minnesota, the Pistons would need to make the Playoffs, or else it would convert into second-round picks after a few seasons.

The next season, the Pistons broke their five-year Playoff drought, which handed the Timberwolves the 17th overall pick. The Wolves selected a relatively unknown French kid, Joan Beringer.

Beringer played sparingly in his rookie season, but will assume a full-time role in the rotation starting this next season, likely playing the minutes when Gobert is on the bench.

The Wolves speak incredibly highly of Beringer's abilities and potential. His defense jumps off the screen, and his ever-evolving offensive game continues to grow beyond throwing down wide-open lob dunks.

The Wolves weren't done taking centers as they picked up seven-foot-three Rocco Zikarsky out of Australia in the second round. Zikarsky is still with Minnesota on a two-way contract.

2026: Isaiah Evans and Trey Kaufman-Renn

Coming into the summer, the Wolves held the 28th overall pick. When they traded Randle to the Nets, they sent out that 28th pick, getting back the 33rd pick, with which they took Isaiah Evans, a sharpshooter out of Kentucky.

With the Randle trade getting combined with the Ball trade with the Hornets, Evans was unable to practice with the team leading up to Summer League, where he struggled greatly to put the ball in the basket. Evans will likely have a fairly long runway to learn and gather experience at the end of the bench this season, with an eye on joining the rotation sometime in the future.

Late in the second round, the Wolves drafted Trey Kaufman-Renn from Purdue University. The Wolves never offered Kaufman-Renn who is now exploring the possibility of returning to the college game, where he can likely receive higher pay than in the NBA's G League.

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