Until this past season, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves were on parallel paths, losing teams that could not attract marquee free agents and were thus trying to rebuild through the NBA Draft.
Both drafted good, young talent, and while neither team was in playoff contention, by 2017 a bit of a rivalry had developed. The similarities started in 2014 when the Lakers selected Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson while the Timberwolves drafted Andrew Wiggins and UCLA’s Zach Levine.
In 2015, Minnesota used the No. 1 overall pick in the draft to take Karl Anthony Towns while the Lakers used the second pick on D’Angelo Russell.