The 2020 NBA Draft, when the Warriors had the second overall choice, presented a golden opportunity to add another franchise star to their roster. The Warriors supposedly had serious reservations about Anthony Edwards, which prevented them from acquiring him.

“The Golden State Warriors aren’t a likely landing spot due to these concerns about Edwards’ drive and enthusiasm for winning,” Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman said. It was reported that teams are worried about Edwards’ motivation and desire to win.

That year, Edwards was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had the top pick in the draft. The Timberwolves, according to NBA insider Brian Windhorst, made multiple attempts to trade draft choices with the Warriors, but the latter were uninterested.

Notable 2009 Trade: Stephen Curry Was Passed On By The Timberwolves

An intriguing aspect of the 2020 Warriors decision is the similarities to the Timberwolves’ 2009 move. Stephen Curry might have been taken by Minnesota with the fifth and sixth overall picks that year.

Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn, two additional point guards, were instead selected. The rest is annals of history as the Warriors selected Curry with the seventh overall choice in the draft.

Can Edwards cause the Warriors to feel the same pang of regret that the Timberwolves did when they passed on Curry? Time will tell, but it will take a huge victory for Edwards to justify that.

The Warriors have won four NBA titles under Curry’s leadership, and he has won two MVPs and a Finals MVP award. He was a prime candidate to play for the Timberwolves and is widely considered one of the all-time greats.

Interestingly, in 2011, the team also didn’t choose Klay Thompson, who was Curry’s teammate. In that particular year, Derrick Williams was selected by the Timberwolves with the second pick, and the Warriors selected Thompson with the eleventh pick. In contrast to Klay, who is widely considered to be one of the all-time great shooters, Williams was a complete dud.

One of the numerous blunders committed by the Timberwolves throughout the years was passing on the Splash Brothers. They are hope that Edwards, who they were fortunate enough not to pass on, may help them put the past in the past. “To go back to draft night — the Wolves were very interested in trading out of this pick,” stated Windhorst. “They were trying up until they were on the clock, from what I have been told, to get the Warriors interested in moving up.”

Reportedly at the time, the Warriors were solely interested in James Wiseman and anticipated that the Timberwolves would pass on him in favor of Karl-Anthony Towns. Since they weren’t interested in Edwards and assumed Wiseman would fall for them nonetheless, they didn’t see the need to move up a notch.

It was plainly a tоtal bust fоr Gоlden State when we lооk back оn it. Given оur current knоwledge, it’s easy tо make fun оf the Warriоrs, but in thоse days, Edwards was far frоm a must-have prоspect.

You can understand why they would have been wary: there were those naysayers who questioned his professionalism and wondered how good he could be as a player. Now that we’re in the present, though, nobody doubts Edwards’ ambition and desire to win.

Even though he’s only been in the league for a short period of time, the 22-year-old Edwards has already made it clear that he wants to wipe the floor with everyone and everything in the playoffs. That is precisely his behavior up to this point.

Edwards had a huge role in the Timberwolves’ first-round sweep of the Phoenix Suns and his masterful performance in Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets, which allowed them to secure home-court advantage. The two-time All-Star is now leading the playoffs in scoring with an average of 33.4 points, 7.8 boards, 5.6 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game.

After the Warriors traded for Wiseman from them to the Detroit Pistons in 2023, their relationship ended. Neither his time in Detroit nor his performance in Golden State were up to the big man’s standards.

Over the course of his career, Wiseman has averaged 9.1 points, 5.6 boards, 0.7 assists, 0.2 steals, and 0.7 blocks at the basket. A major disappointment in recent NBA history, the 23-year-old will go down in history as one of the worst flops. The Warriors’ dynasty appears to have come to an end after they wasted a golden opportunity with the second overall choice.