Wolves reportedly came close to drafting Giannis Antetokounmpo
As human Kraken Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to gobble up planets for the Milwaukee Bucks, it’s always entertaining to look back on the 14 teams that passed up on the Greek Freak back in the 2013 Draft. One team that apparently came incredibly close to escaping that dubious list was the Minnesota Timberwolves.
According to a feature by ESPN’s Zach Lowe on Tuesday, the Wolves came very close to drafting Antetokounmpo over former UCLA star Shabazz Muhammad with the 14th overall pick. They ultimately settled on Muhammad as the clock was ticking in the draft room, submitted their selection to the Jazz, who drafted Muhammad and promptly flipped his rights over to them per the terms of the draft-day Trey Burke trade, and the Bucks pounced on Antetokounmpo with the very next pick.
Muhammad has often seemed like the odd man out of Minnesota’s exciting young core of talent. He has averaged just 8.7 points per game in 15.7 minutes per game over three seasons and is currently stuck behind 35-year-old Tayshaun Prince on the small forward totem pole.
Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, has captivated the entire basketball world with his Gyro Steps, his coast-to-coast-in three-dribbles sequences, his mean mugs, his positional versatility, and his video game measurements. His averages across three seasons sit at a healthy 10.3 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per game, and 2.3 assists per game in 28.5 minutes per game, while exhibiting tremendous year-to-year growth.
They say hindsight is 20/20 so it’s hard to knock the Wolves for drafting Muhammad, the more NBA-ready prospect at the time, over Antetokounmpo, the raw, physical specimen who developed faster than anyone could have possibly imagined. Still, it’s fun to fantasize about what could have been a Wolves fast break led by Ricky Rubio with Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins filling the lanes as Antetokounmpo and Karl-Anthony Towns trailed.
