The Golden State Warriors completed one of the more remarkable turnarounds in the 2021-22 season as they went all the way to clinch yet another championship, after missing out on the playoffs last season. Not many predicted that they’d be here before the season started and that includes Steve Kerr, who said he wasn’t sure they’d win it all when training camp started.
Well, they did perhaps surprise even themselves a little bit with this title run and Mychal Thompson, Klay Thompson’s father, stated that they have the Minnesota Timberwolves to thank for this championship. He hilariously suggested that the Timberwolves should get a ring as well, as they were a big reason why this squad could be assembled.
Ya no the Warriors gotta send a ring to Minesota…Y…Well,they PASSED on Steff and Klay in the draft AND they traded Wiggins to G State…So yeah…Minesota shud get a ring too
— Mychal Thompson (@champagnennuts) June 21, 2022
“Ya no the Warriors gotta send a ring to Minesota…Y…Well,they PASSED on Steff and Klay in the draft AND they traded Wiggins to G State…So yeah…Minesota shud get a ring too”
The Timberwolves will never live down the fact that they passed on Stephen Curry twice during the 2009 NBA draft, as they picked two point guards in Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn at #5 and #6, with Curry going 7th to the Warriors. Perhaps less infamously, they did pass on Klay Thompson in 2011 as well, when they had the second pick in the draft with which they took Derrick Williams, while Klay went to the Warriors with the 11th pick.
The most recent contribution that the Wolves made to the Warriors, was trading Andrew Wiggins to them in 2020. Many at the time didn’t feel like Wiggins would be a major contributor for Golden State, but instead, he turned out to be their second-best player in the Finals and might get a big extension out of it as well. That Wiggins trade also helped the Warriors land promising youngster Jonathan Kuminga in the 2021 NBA Draft and if history is anything to go by, then he’s going to pile on the misery on the Timberwolves in the years to come.
