2021 NBA Draft Lottery: Who should each team take with the No. 1 pick?

The Timberwolves have a 9.0 percent chance of leaping to the top spot and it’s an outcome that would be fascinating for a number of reasons. It would let them actually keep their pick, which conveys to the Golden State Warriors if it falls outside the top three, but it would also give them back-to-back No. 1 picks. That’s happened just twice before in NBA history — the Magic turned their picks into Shaq and Penny in 1992 and 1993 and the Cavaliers turned their picks (Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins) into Kevin Love in 2013 and 2014. The Timberwolves obviously ended up with the short end of that last stick and this would give themselves a chance for cosmic redemption.

Although Mobley could probably play next to Karl-Anthony Towns, Cunningham is the clear pick here, giving the Timberwolves a defensive upgrade on the wing and a ball-handler and creator who doesn’t need to score to have an impact. His pick-and-roll prowess would be incredible with KAT and he could still help make things easier on offense for Anthony Edwards, Malik Beasley and D’Angelo Russell. There’s some overlap there but that could just set the Timberwolves up for a future trade to plug another hole.