The Timberwolves went into the 2022-23 season knowing they would not have a 2023 first-round draft pick as a result of the Rudy Gobert trade.
And still the scars of drafts (and lotteries) past were evident as the year went on.
Wolves fans accustomed to far more misfortune than fortune in the draft — even with some correction in recent years — focused their anxiety on a mathematically unlikely proposition:
That Minnesota would miss the playoffs, turning what was owed to Utah into a lottery pick. And that the presumed slim, 1-2% chance the pick would turn into the No.