Timberwolves leads Edwards first overall in NBA draft

The Minnesota Timberwolves made the outstanding Anthony Edwards of the University of Georgia the first overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft on Wednesday.

The Timberwolves, who finished 19-45 in the 2020 season interrupted by the coronavirus, opted for Edwards, who averaged 19 points per game as a freshman, to bolster a roster that includes young stars Karl-Anthony Towns and D ‘ Angelo Russell.

“It’s an indescribable feeling,” Edwards said from his home in Georgia on ESPN’s draft broadcast.

“So many emotions,” he said. “My family is excited. I feel like when I get out of here I’m going to be excited. It is beyond measure to be in this situation. “

The 2020 draft comes just four weeks after LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers secured the NBA Finals after a season interrupted by viruses.

And it comes just five weeks before the 2020-21 campaign kicks off on December 22.

That means the NBA’s newest top recruits face being thrown into the background after an unprecedented final leg of their journey to the league.

“We’ve all had to do our best, whether they’re agents, players, colleges, professionals, so we’re into that too, and that raises a lot of unknowns,” said Golden State general manager Bob Myers, whose Los Warriors they took James Wiseman with the second overall pick.

Wiseman, a 2.16m (7ft 1in) center who played just three games for the University of Memphis before retiring to target the NBA draft, is a commanding presence at the rim who said: speaking from his home in Nashville during the virtual giveaway ceremony – he was ready to come to Golden State and “learn as much as possible and be the best version of me.”

The Warriors, one season off a streak of five consecutive Finals appearances that yielded three titles, finished last in the Western Conference after a season marred not only by the departure of Kevin Durant but also by injuries to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. .

His hopes that the addition of new blood to Wiseman would signal a turnaround may have been dampened by the news earlier Wednesday that Thompson, who missed all of 2019-20 with a torn left knee ligament, sustained an injury in the lower part of the right leg of indeterminate gravity in training. hours before the draft.

The ball goes third

The Charlotte Hornets, owned by NBA icon Michael Jordan, took LaMelo Ball with the third overall pick.

Ball, the youngest of three basketball-playing brothers who already have their own reality TV show, was touted as a possible top pick, but erratic shooting ability may have weighed against the 19-year-old from California whose path towards the NBA. included seasons of playing professionally in Lithuania and Australia.

He averaged 17 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 31.2 minutes in 12 games for the Illawarra Hawks in the Australian National Basketball League last season.

The Chicago Bulls took Patrick Williams with the fourth pick, Isaac Okoro was fifth to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks took Onyeka Okongwu sixth overall.

Frenchman Killian Hayes was seventh overall against the Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons had started turning and trading even before their No. 7 came out, trading to acquire another first-round pick less than an hour before the draft began.

They acquired veteran forward Trevor Ariza and the Houston Rockets’ 16th pick for a future draft pick.