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The Minnesota Timberwolves first participated in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft on June 27, 1989, about five months before their inaugural NBA season. The Timberwolves are currently the second NBA team to be based in Minneapolis since the Minneapolis Lakers were there from 1948 to 1960.
Before each draft, an NBA draft lottery determines the first round selection order for the teams that did not make the playoffs during the prior season. Teams can also trade their picks, which means that a team could have more than or less than two picks in one draft. As a result of the various trades, the Minnesota Timberwolves had four draft picks in 1992 and 2006. The Timberwolves drafted Pooh Richardson with their first ever draft pick, tenth overall, in the 1989 NBA draft. In 1995, the Timberwolves picked Kevin Garnett fifth overall, who went on to be a 13-time All-Star. In 1996, the Timberwolves drafted Ray Allen fifth overall but was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks with a future first-round pick for the draft rights of Stephon Marbury. In the 2008 NBA draft, the Timberwolves drafted O. J. Mayo third overall but was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies along with three other players from the Timberwolves for the draft rights to Kevin Love along with three other players from the Grizzlies.