Wolves get 1st-round pick back thanks to the Ricky Rubio trade
It's been nearly a year since the Timberwolves traded point guard Ricky Rubio to the Utah Jazz, in return receiving a 2018 lottery protected first-round draft pick.
The pick was originally Oklahoma City's, but Utah acquired it in a trade and then gave it to Minnesota for Rubio.
On Friday, the NBA conducted tiebreakers for the Thunder, Jazz, Pelicans and Pacers, all of whom finished with identical 48-34 records.
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As luck would have it, OKC won the tiebreaker, thus giving the Wolves the best possible outcome.
It's amazing news considering Minnesota's pick, 19th overall, was given to Atlanta as part of the 2015 Adreian Payne trade. So all in all, the Wolves dropped just one spot from where they would've been had no trades been made.
For a team with the worst draft luck in NBA history, this is great news.