Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 worst mistakes in franchise history

3. The 2011 NBA draft

This was a draft that the Minnesota Timberwolves are still paying dearly for. This one was arguably the breaking point for Kevin Love, causing him to want to leave Minnesota just a few years later, and it’s easy to see why.

The 2011 draft class was another one that was loaded with talent. There were players taken outside the lottery who are now are All-Stars. That includes Isaiah Thomas, who had a stellar run with the Boston Celtics and was picked 60th overall, dead last, by the Sacramento Kings.

To top it all off, the Timberwolves had the second overall pick in that draft.

Again, at the time, Williams seemed like a great pick. A stretch 4 that was coming along right as the league was beginning to transition that way, if Williams had been picked two or three years later, he may have had a huge NBA run.

Williams averaged 17.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in college, and he shot over 50 percent from both the field and from 3. And things really looked up for him in his rookie season, making the 2011-12 All-Rookie team after playing in all 66 games.

The problem, much like Flynn, was with injuries as well as lack of NBA-level production. Williams only played one full season in the league.

He only averaged above 10 points per game once, only shot above 50 percent from the field once and never made more than 33 percent of his 3-point shots.

In the first round alone, the Timberwolves passed on stars like Klay Thompson, Kemba Walker, Kawhi Leonard and Nikola Vucevic, as well as great role players like Enes Kanter and Tristan Thompson.

The Timberwolves mishandled their second-round pick, leaving them with nobody to choose in that round, missing out on players like Bojan Bogdanovic, E’Twaun Moore and Isaiah Thomas.