Revisiting the Timberwolves' Joe Smith Punishment: Why the Clippers Are in Trouble

Before Steve Ballmer, there was Glen Taylor. And long before the Adam Silver hammer was brought down on the Los Angeles Clippers for salary cap circumvention, David Stern inflicted his wrath on the Minnesota Timberwolves for a similar scandal.

Both the Clippers and Timberwolves are largely woebegone franchises who have had recent stretches of success. But when the Wolves were penalized by Stern back in 2000, it was right when the Wolves were emerging as a perennial playoff team. Kevin Garnett was a bonafide superstar, and the future appeared bright in Minnesota.

But the penalty from Stern handcuffed the Wolves for years, stunting the growth of what could have been a young core around Garnett, instead leaving them to try to bargain hunt in free agency and cobble together a worthy rotation via trade.

The Wolves of the early '00s give us a preview of what we can expect to befall the Clippers in the coming years. But the Wolves had Garnett, and the Clippers don't.

Spoiler: it's not going to be pretty.

The scandal: Why, Wolves?

The Wolves signed former No. 1 overall pick Joe Smith prior to the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. He had averaged 16.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game over his first three seasons and was traded from Golden State to Philadelphia midway through the 1997-98 season.

While a solid starter, Smith wasn't a superstar. Still, he had only been the No. 1 overall pick in the draft only four years prior, so coming off of a rookie contract and signing a below-market deal of $1.75 million was a bit eyebrow-raising. After a decent season for a Wolves team that was a disappointing 25-25 in the shortened campaign, Smith came back on another one-year deal, this time for $2.1 million.

After the 1999-2000 season, Smith's agent (who, importantly, was also Garnett's agent) left his agency and was sued by his former employer. During discovery, it was uncovered that the Wolves organization and Smith's agent had a deal in place that would pay him below-market value for a series of one-year deals, allowing the Wolves to retain his Bird rights and pay him more in free agency following the final one-year deal.

While similar quid pro quos have surely happened throughout the history of the league, this attempt was rather brazen and also, apparently, memorialized in a way that was easily viewable by the league.

Then-commissioner David Stern came down hard on the Wolves, penalizing them five consecutive first-round picks on top of voiding Smith's contracts and Bird rights. He also suspended owner Glen Taylor and President of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale for a year each. McHale was out only a couple of years later while Taylor continued his lengthy and rocky tenure in the owner's suite until multiple recent transactions have helped steer the Wolves in a ... much steadier direction.

Eventually, two of the Wolves first-round picks were returned, but significant damage was done. The Wolves went from a 50-win team in 1999-2000 to just 47 wins in 2000-01.

Thankfully, their final first-round pick before the penalty was Wally Szczerbiak, a fantastic shooter and scorer who would make the All-Star team in his third season and was Garnett's best running mate across his first several seasons in the league prior to the arrival of Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell via trade in the summer of 2003.

But with no first-round pick for three of the next four years, the Wolves never found an infusion of talent. Despite having one of the league's best six or seven players and a perennial All-NBA First or Second Team player in Garnett, the Wolves couldn't get over 51 regular-season wins until the 2003-04 campaign with Sprewell and Cassell in the fold.

Their draft picks from 2000 through 2004? Igor Rakocevic, Loren Woods, Marcus Taylor, Ndudi Ebi, Rick Rickert, and Blake Stepp. Combined, they played in just 276 games NBA games -- 215 of them by Woods, and only 98 of those in a Wolves uniform.

Ebi was the only first-round pick of the group, and Taylor, Rickert, and Stepp never appeared in a regular-season game. (Crucially, none of the Wolves' best four second-round picks in their history happened to come during this stretch with no first-rounders available.)

How the Timberwolves recovered

While the Wolves were a playoff team in each season they were penalized, they didn't get above 51 wins and never advanced past the first round.

Their roster moves over the next three seasons were limited to re-signing Smith (yes, after he played one season in Detroit, Smith found his way back to the Wolves) and the likes of Sam Jacobson, an aging Sam Mitchell, and finding Felipe Lopez and Troy Hudson in the bargain bin—the latter two of which ended up being relatively savvy signings.

But the capital to acquire new players was severely limited from 2000 to 2003—during Garnett's prime years of age-23 to age-27. That's a tough thing to overcome.

In hindsight, the Wolves didn't miss out on much when looking at the players who were drafted late in the first round in 2000, but the players picked between No. 18 and 28 in 2001? Plenty of NBA regulars, including Jason Collins, Zach Randolph, Brendan Haywood, Gerald Wallace, Samuel Dalembert, Jamaal Tinsley, and Tony Parker. The 2002 draft was again lighter in the late first-round, but Tayshaun Prince was picked at No. 23 and John Salmons at No. 26.

Of course, the Wolves held pick No. 26 in the 2002 draft after Stern returned a pair of picks, and they selected high-schooler Ebi—directly before Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa, and Josh Howard, who all played a decade or more in the league.

Eventually, the Wolves were able to swing deals for Cassell and Ervin Johnson in the summer of 2003, giving up only Smith and Anthony Peeler, and Latrell Sprewell, giving up only an injured Terell Brandon and Marc Jackson. They were both impressive strokes on the trade market and led to a 58-win campaign and a Western Conference Finals berth in spring of 2004.

But the Wolves again didn't have a first round pick in 2004, and Saunders was shockingly fired after a 24-25 start to the following season. Cassell was banged up most of the season and Sprewell was not as effective. The Wolves struggled to a 44-win season and missed the playoffs for the first time since Garnett's rookie season. They didn't reach the postseason again until 2018.

What does this mean for the Clippers?

The Clippers are in even worse shape than the Wolves were. For starters, at least Minnesota had Kevin Garnett. The Clippers just traded Kawhi Leonard L.A. and replaced him with Brandon Ingram, a two-time All-Star entering his age-29 season.

Beyond Darius Garland, a 27-year-old two-time All-Star, and this year's first-round pick Keaton Wagler, there is not much else there beyond role players on the wrong side of 30. Bradley Beal, Max Strus, Brooke Lopez, and Kris Dunn would all be more helpful for a true contender than a team that will be fortunate just to get into the Play-In Tournament.

But again, the Wolves didn't have access to a first round pick for three of the four years in the middle of Garnett's prime years leading into his MVP campaign in 2003-04. And even if they wouldn't have made all the selections, those are additional resources that could have been included in potential trades.

Put simply, the Wolves had a Hall-of-Famer in his prime in Garnett with a capable second option in Szczerbiak not much else. They were a consistent playoff team but were unable to ascend past the first round of the playoffs until a pair of savvy trades. And even then, the moves were for aging veterans without much tread on the tires, and less than two years following those trades, Garnett was shipped to Boston.

There is not much hope for the Clippers in the next three to five years. Simply removing draft capital with nothing in return is a tough pill to swallow, and the Clippers front office will have to be incredibley creative over the next half-decade if they are to even sniff the playoffs in the rough-and-tumble Western Conference.

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