5 Winners and losers of the wildly unpredictable first round of the 2024 NBA Draft

Night one of the NBA Draft is officially in the books, with 30 players seeing their NBA dreams become true. Despite this draft being perceived as one of the weaker classes in recent memory, there were a lot of fireworks and excitement throughout.

The first round itself was pretty unpredictable, but which teams came away as winners and which teams disappointed? Here are three winners and two losers from the first round of the NBA Draft.

Winner: Minnesota Timberwolves

The Timberwolves lack of consistent shot creation and dynamic playmaking outside of Anthony Edwards was a weakness that was exposed in their conference finals loss to the Dallas Mavericks. The Wolves also have a high payroll, so fixing that weakness was easier said than done. Well after Wednesday night, they came away with two of the best scorers in the draft.

In the shock of the night, Minnesota acquired the eighth pick from San Antonio for a pick swap in 2030 and an unprotected first round pick in 2031. With that pick, the Wolves selected Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham. 

Dillingham is a shifty guard with the ability to score at will and that is something he flashed at Kentucky this past season. In 23 minutes per game, he averaged 15 points on 47 percent from the field and a blistering 44 percent from three-point range.

He is great at getting to the rim using his speed and quickness and is great at creating separation to get his shot off. Minnesota sorely needed this off their bench for this season and Dillingham fits nicely next to Anthony Edwards. This will be a dangerous back court duo in the future.

With their second pick in the first round, the Wolves selected Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. Shannon is amazing at getting to the rim and is an absolute monster in transition with his 6’7”, 210 pound frame. He is a great athlete that can finish through contact, evidenced by his 65 percent shooting percentage at the rim. He can also shoot the three well, as he was at 36 percent this past season.

The Wolves got two amazing scoring guards for their bench this season and two players that could become starters for them in a couple seasons. President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly could not have done a better job.