A night [Thursday, June 23] full of eye opening picks and out of this world trade transactions, this year’s NBA Draft has the potential to be one of the deepest classes to date.
As expected, the exciting vibes at the Barclays Center were all the way up as fans were going insane after every draft pick and trade talk was discussed throughout the entire night. After the inevitable occurred when LSU’s Ben Simmons was selected first by the 76ers and Duke’s Brandon Ingram selected second, this year’s draft was filled with nothing but twists and turns throughout the entire night. University of California Bears high flying forward Jaylen Brown was selected by the Boston Celtics with the third pick. Early strong picks like this dictated how invigorating this year’s draft was going to be and it’s safe to say no NBA teams took a lost after last night’s draft.
The Minnesota Timberwolves 360 slam dunked their opportunity by choosing Providence College’s point guard Kris Dunn. The following pick, prolific scoring sensation Buddy Hield, was selected by the New Orleans Pelicans. Meanwhile, reigning AP Player of the Year Denzel Valentine will most likely became Derrick Rose’s replacement as he was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 14th pick. As the night progressed, some major deals were made as teams were preparing to free up money for this summer’s upcoming NBA free agency. A prime example of this is the deal the Oklahoma City Thunder made with the Orlando Magic. The Thunder trade Serge Ibaka to the Magic for guard Victor Oladipo, forward Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to the #11 overall pick, which so happens to be Gonzaga power forward Domantas Sabonis. 
Overall, many fans can say this year’s draft was the perfect warm-up to a potentially jaw-dropping summer 2016 off-season period. Teams such as the Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers have made fans pay attention to what the front office personnel are cooking up. But the main team fans have all their eyes on is the Minnesota Timberwolves. By adding a scoring play-making guard like Dunn to a core of young raw talent such a high flyers in Adam LaVine and Andrew Wiggins and a dominant low post presence in Karl Anthony-Towns and Gorgui Dieng, the baby Wolves are becoming a sleeper team that may just sneak into the playoff next year. They seem like they are not done making power moves as they have eye set on Chicago Bulls all star guard Jimmy Butler. If the deal falls through, Minnesota is a squad no one does not want to see come tip off of the 2016-2017 NBA regular season.
