Winning for losing

By losing Wednesday's regular-season finale, the Wolves finished with the NBA's worst record —16-66 — which means they won in several areas relating to this June's draft. Here's what being worst means:

Those lottery balls: The Wolves have a 25 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, which is more than 5 percentage points higher than the second-to-worst team, which has a 19.9 percent chance of netting the top pick.

Shorter fall: The Wolves can fall no lower than No. 4 in the draft, an important fact for an organization that has never moved up in the lottery draw. The second-to-worst team can fall to No. 5.

Scouting time: The NBA draft combine will be May 14-15 in Chicago — before the Wolves will actually know where they are selecting.

The lottery: Will the Wolves get the No. 1? That will become known on May 19, when the NBA conducts its annual pingpong ball lottery to determine draft order.

… or Karl-Anthony Towns.

The draft: The actual NBA draft will take place June 25 in New York City.

What's at stake: The Wolves need a franchise center. The consensus top picks in this year's draft are potential franchise centers: Duke's Jahlil Okafor and Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns.