Imagine a world where Minnesota Timberwolves’ owner Glen Taylor did not make an illegal agreement with then free-agent Joe Smith. Say the Timberwolves weren’t fined $3.5 million and were allowed to keep four of their next five first-round draft picks.
Joe Smith was a free agent going into the 1998-99 season. After being drafted number one overall by the Golden State Warriors in the 1995 draft, Smith had turned down an $80 million extension with the Warriors before they subsequently traded him.
He was a wanted man in free agency before the lockout-shortened season of 1999.