Draft Winners

I think there were two clear winners from Thursday's NBA Draft: the Kings and the Timberwolves.

The Kings haven't done anything worthy of praise in what seems like my lifetime. But last night Vlade Divac drafted four high-caliber prospects who all have the ability to become impact players at the next level. I said prior to the draft that De'Aaron Fox would turn out to be the best player from this draft when we look back in a decade; and the Kings took him with the fifth overall pick. Then, they flipped their tenth pick for picks 15 and 20, which they used to select Justin Jackson and Harry Giles respectively. Jackson should be a solid wing in the league and Giles, if he can recapture his form prior to two devastating knee injuries, might be the steal of the draft. Then in the early second round the Kings snagged Frank Mason, the AP college player of the year, from Kansas. The Kings didn't transform their franchise in one night, but we might look back in a few years and say this was the draft that was the start of something special in Sacramento.

If you can land a top-15 player in the NBA without having to give up anything of real significance, that's an unquestioned success. Tom Thibodeau and the Wolves absolutely fleeced the Bulls. To get Jimmy Butler while only having to surrender Kris Dunn - who was a massive disappointment last year, Zach Lavine - who is coming off of an ACL injury, and the 7th pick is an absolute steal for Minnesota. A trio of Karl Anthony-Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Jimmy Butler has the potential to be a force in the Western Conference.