It’s been 40 days since the Minnesota Timberwolves season ended. The rest of the league wrapped things up just over a week ago, so it’s time we officially turn the page on the 2025-2026 NBA season.
Nothing signals the start of a new season like the NBA draft.
That was my initial thought before Monday night happened. The Wolves weren’t expected to make much of a splash as far as the draft is concerned, holding just picks 28 and 59. The focus was more about a lot of looming player movement dominoes.
Well, most of those dominoes fell yesterday.
With Julius Randle jettisoned, Ayo Dosunmu terms agreed to, and the 28th pick turned into the 33rd pick, Wolves fans should expect to a rather drama-free evening. Let’s congregate in the ol’ Canis comments section to see what happens to the other 29 teams!
Draft Info
What: 2026 NBA Draft Round 1
When: Tuesday, June 23, 2026 @ 6:00 pm CT
Where: Barclays Center (Brooklyn, NY)
TV: ABC/ESPN
What to Expect on Draft Night
The Timberwolves books look a lot different than they did 24 hours ago. Prior to shedding Randle’s $33.3 million contract, adding a fringe-first round rookie (pick 28) at roughly $3 million a year would have been tough. However, dumping his contract came at the cost of sliding down from pick 28, to pick 33. Some pundits have had the discussion of whether a guaranteed contract of a first round pick is more valuable than the open flexibility of a second round pick, so it’s worth asking if this was really was a downgrade.
That said, Wolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly came from out of the shadows to acquire the eighth overall pick during the 2024 draft. Even prior to Connelly giving up this year’s first round pick yesterday, there was speculation that he could be up to something similar again.
Was this just some last minute due diligence? Or was a precursor of something else Connelly has cooking in the oven like they did when they secretly brought in Joan Beringer for a workout? In theory, it does make sense for Minnesota to get back into the mix as they have more financial flexibility to acquire and sign a first round pick post-Randle trade.
As mentioned earlier, many fans around the league will be eagerly awaiting announcements of ensuing blockbuster trades to come. Randle was first, and then came Giannis Antetokounmpo. Who’s next? Jaylen Brown? Kyrie Irving? Derrick White?
What else will happen tonight?
Draft updates
LIVE updated board:
Round 1:
- WAS
- UTA
- MEM
- CHI
- LAC
- BKN
- SAC
- ATL
- DAL
- MIL
- GSW
- OKC
- MIL
- CHO
- CHI
- MEM
- OKC
- CHO
- TOR
- SAS
- DET
- PHI
- ATL
- NYK
- LAL
- DEN
- BOS
- BKN
- CLE
- DAL
