New Orleans (23-34) and Minnesota (18-40) are outside the top eight in the Western Conference standings with roughly six weeks remaining in the 2015-16 season, but hope for future success centers on three of the past four No. 1 overall draft picks, a group that includes Pelicans forward Anthony Davis, as well as Timberwolves standouts Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.
Asked before Saturday’s game if Davis and Towns are on a “short list” of players an NBA team would love to start a franchise with, Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry agreed. That list also might include Wiggins, who captured the Rookie of the Year trophy last season, an award Towns is well on his way to also earning for the Timberwolves.