MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 Joan Beringer is a native of France, a long-armed, lanky center who projects as a rim-running big in the NBA, a staunch rim protector and a demon on the offensive glass.<\/p>\n
Sound familiar?<\/p>\n
The Timberwolves took Beringer with the 17th pick in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday night. When the 18-year-old arrives in Minnesota, fellow countryman Rudy Gobert will be there waiting to mentor him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmazing,\u201d Beringer said. \u201cI\u2019m very happy, also to play with Rudy Gobert. It\u2019s an amazing feeling. I\u2019m very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Timberwolves were equally enthusiastic about the pairing.<\/p>\n
General manager Matt Lloyd said a contingent of team officials flew to Chicago last weekend for a last-minute, private workout with Beringer to solidify their evaluation. Once they were finished and met with him in person, they came out of it believing he was the player they wanted to be there at No. 17.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoan is one of those rare cases where the best player available also had a fit,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cAnd we were sweating it. \u2026 It was a long night of waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beringer will not turn 19 until November and didn\u2019t start playing basketball until he was 14. He is a raw prospect who will need time to develop, much like Gobert was when he came over from France in 2013 after being selected 27th overall by the Utah Jazz. However, the plan is for him to join the team at summer league in Las Vegas next month and be on the roster when the season opens in October. He will not be a draft-and-stash player, Lloyd said.<\/p>\n
At 6 foot 11, Beringer is not quite as big as the 7-2 Gobert, but The Athletic\u2019s draft analyst Sam Vecenie describes him as a \u201cterrific athlete who moves fluidly\u201d and \u201cgets off the ground quickly as a leaper.\u201d He was ranked as the 13th-best player on Vecenie\u2019s board. He averaged 5.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 57 games for KK Cedevita Olimpija in Slovenia last season, his first season as a pro.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has not been a more rapid ascent from a single player in this class,\u201d Vecenie wrote. \u201cA meteoric rise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among his strengths, per Vecenie:<\/p>\n
Areas for improvement:<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had to bet on his intangibles, I would. A-plus,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cHis tools are an A-plus. Everything else will come with getting experience, gaining experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wolves selected Beringer ahead of players such as Florida guard Walter Clayton, Illinois point guard Kasparas Jaku\u010dionis and Michigan big man Danny Wolf. They entered the draft with a priority on landing a developmental big man, as Gobert turns 33 on Friday and has no true center in the pipeline who projects as a rotation-level player.<\/p>\n
Now the Wolves have developmental players at every position, including Rob Dillingham at point guard, Jaylen Clark at off guard, Terrence Shannon Jr. and Josh Minott on the wing and Leonard Miller at power forward.<\/p>\n
Beringer was euphoric about his fortune in landing on a team with a player who knows exactly what it\u2019s like to come to the United States from France at a young age and try to find his way. Gobert will be there to help him through the growing pains on the court and the acclimation process off of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the best defender (in) the world,\u201d Beringer said of Gobert. \u201cI\u2019m a defender like him. Just to have a chance to learn from him is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lloyd said he saw similarities in personality between Beringer and Gobert, two serious-minded players with strong work ethics. Contrary to Gobert, Lloyd sees a player capable of stepping out and knocking down a 15-foot jump shot. Patience will be required with a player so young, both in terms of age and experience. However, the Wolves see someone who can be molded over the long haul.<\/p>\n
The Wolves also have the 31st pick, at the top of the second round, on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Gobert trade revisited<\/p>\n
The fact that the Wolves were drafting in the first round on Wednesday night was further indication that the panic over the picks the Wolves gave up in the Gobert trade was a little overblown.<\/p>\n
Three years ago, when president of basketball operations Tim Connelly traded for Gobert, there was outcry that they had sacrificed their future by sending four first-round draft picks (2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029) and a pick swap in 2026 to the Jazz as part of the package to get him. However, Connelly has been able to create opportunities to compensate for the lost capital.<\/p>\n
He selected Clark in the second round in 2023, and he has emerged as a rotation-level player, a valuable pick since the Wolves did not have a first-round selection that season.<\/p>\n
Last year, Connelly grabbed Shannon at No. 27 and also traded into the top 10 to get Dillingham at No. 8. He then got a protected first-rounder for this season in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, and with a bit of luck from the Detroit Pistons making the playoffs, got No. 17 in this year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n
So, in the three drafts since he allegedly flushed the future down the toilet by sending all those picks out, Connelly has added a rotation player in the second round and three first-round picks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny sort of assertion that we don\u2019t have assets is incorrect, and we\u2019re going to see it in summer league,\u201d Lloyd said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Gobert was named the 2024 NBA Defensive Player of the Year and has been a major part of back-to-back runs to the Western Conference finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think his willingness to get into the draft and be aggressive, Tim that is, works in our favor,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cBecause more likely than not, we\u2019re going to pick the right guy and we\u2019re going to place him in the player development program. And that\u2019s not like a subtle brag or anything, that\u2019s just the record. We\u2019re going to put him in the player development program that\u2019s produced Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and we should get a good result.\u201d<\/p>\n
Durant effect<\/p>\n
As has been exhaustively reported, the Wolves were in on talks for Kevin Durant before he was traded to the Houston Rockets last week. That signaled a willingness to be aggressive and chase a star player to pair with Anthony Edwards.<\/p>\n
According to team sources, the Wolves withdrew from those conversations when they got word that Durant did not want to come to Minnesota, meaning that reports of an offer of Rudy Gobert, Donte DiVincenzo, Rob Dillingham or Terrence Shannon Jr. and\u00a0the 17th pick were inaccurate.<\/p>\n
The Wolves were never going to pay that much for a 37-year-old entering the last year of his deal, even though they knew Durant would be a perfect fit next to Edwards, because everyone in the league knew that Phoenix had to trade him.<\/p>\n
When Durant went to the Rockets, the immediate assumption was that the Wolves would remain aggressive in pursuit of another big name. There was anticipation in the fan base coming into Wednesday night that Connelly would pull off another stunner of a deal to get an established stud, perhaps by dangling the No. 17 pick as part of a package. However, all indications are that, after the Durant dream died, there wasn\u2019t much out there in terms of big swings to take.<\/p>\n
Lloyd said Connelly was on the phone all day looking for deals, but when Beringer was there, they couldn\u2019t pass him up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to move up, move down, move back, move forward and sideways,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cIt just fell to where the guy we wanted was there.\u201d<\/p>\n