The Minnesota Timberwolves came out of the 2025 NBA Draft with their only selection, 17th place.
Given the Minnesota Timberwolves have reached the finals of the Western Conference in a row, it’s no surprise that the franchise has fallen from the lottery location.
However, it is entirely possible to draft an elite player with the 17th overall pick in the draft. Well, Timberwolves president Tim Connelly believes the franchise did it with Joan Bellinger.
Heading into the 2025 NBA Draft, the Timberwolves apparently had a goal of drafting a big guy. After all, Rudy Gobert ran an overwhelming postseason.
On top of that, their second option, Naz Reid, can become a free agent this summer by rejecting his $1502 million player option.
With these in mind, TO-Olves selected Beringer, who won his 17th overall pick in the draft. Following the selection, Connelly entered for the 18-year-old.
“Yeah, Joan doesn’t want to say our guy, because he’s lying if he says he’s number one on our board. The Dallas kids are pretty good,” Connelly told the media with a laugh.
He added: “But he was a guy who was lucky enough to allow us to exercise.
For context, the Dallas kid is nothing more than Cooper Flag, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Of course, Beringer is not on par with Flagg, but Connelly believes his story is very interesting.
The Timberwolves president further discussed their picks and revealed some interesting qualities about the French star.
First of all, he states: “This is his first year playing professional basketball. Every time we see him (Joan), we were blown away by his instincts because of a guy who barely doesn’t play basketball.”
Connery added: “He covered five spots. He’s very raw, but very bright. He honestly never saw anyone new for professional basketball.”
As mentioned above, Bellinger was drafted after a year of playing professional basketball outside the United States.
In the context, he averaged 4.5 points per game, 5.5 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 4.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.6 assists per game in the Euro Cup.
Drafting him is certainly a gamble, but it will be interesting to see how he develops during his rookie years with the Timberwolves.