Highlights The 2024 NBA Draft was the first to extend over two days, allowing for more viewership and decision making time for franchises.
Tim Connelly invited the general managers of the Minnesota Vikings & Twins to help gain insight on multi-day drafts.
The Timberwolves were actively dealing all draft, and made one of the most notable moves by trading up for Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham.
The NBA Draft has been an annual event for the league since 1947. In 1980, the selections became broadcast on television, and in 1987 the picks were cut down from 10 to just two rounds. However, the 2024 NBA Draft was the first to extend over two days.
With a chance to stretch the event out and potentially bring in more viewership, while also allowing teams a break between rounds to negotiate trades and reasses their boards, it seemed like a win-win.
Heading into unfamiliar territory, the Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations invited general managers from two Minnesota sports organizations to their draft room in order to get some additional insight on the process:
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been the Minnesota Vikings’ general manager since 2022, and was fresh off of his third draft with the organization this past April. Derek Falvey holds the same role with the MLB’s Minnesota Twins, and has been with the baseball club since 2017.
Recapping The Wolves Draft
Did Adofo-Mensah have any influence?
Funnily enough, the Timberwolves ended up not keeping any of their day two picks. They started out with the 37th pick, but moved back to 53 with the Detroit Pistons to dump salary. To follow that up, they again traded out of 53 to 57, then traded 57 off to keep some money open on their roster.
By the end of the draft, the team had brought in two new first round prospects. Rob Dillingham, a guard from Kentucky, and Illinois wing Terrance Shannon Jr. The trade up with the San Antonio Spurs to select Dillingham was one of the biggest stories of the night. Perhaps Adofo-Mensah’s thirst for dealing on draft day had some influence on the decision, as he traded up twice in the first round in April’s NFL Draft.
GIVEMESPORT: In the 2024 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings traded up in order to acquire both of their first round selections, going from No. 11 to No. 10 to take J.J. McCarthy and No. 23 to No. 17 to snag Dallas Turner.
While no prospects were picked, the fact that Minnesota was consistently on the move between picks showed that Tim Connelly and the front office managed to stay on top of things and entered the night prepared. Whether that should be credited to the two draft room guests is up for debate.
Source: Pierre Noujaim
All statistics courtesy of Pro-Football Reference unless otherwise stated.