On this day, the Minnesota Timberwolves passed on picking Stephen Curry not once, but twice in the 2009 NBA Draft.
The Timberwolves had back-to-back picks at No. 5 and No. 6.
They chose Ricky Rubio with the fifth pick, a selection they received in a trade with the Washington Wizards for Randy Foye and Mike Miller.
Rubio, who was a Spanish prodigy with elite passing skills at a young age, was the youngest player ever to debut in the Spanish ACB League at the age of 14 years and 11 months.
Then, things got interesting.
The ’09 draft was deep with point guards, but the first four selections were Blake Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden and Tyreke Evans, all non-point guards.
After drafting Rubio, the Timberwolves selected, wait for it… Jonny Flynn with the sixth pick.
Flynn was a star at Syracuse where in two seasons, averaged 16.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game, but turned out to be all-or-nothing, similar to roulette online.
He was named the 2008 Big East Rookie of the Year, 2009 MVP of the Big East Tournament and made the 2008-2009 All-Big East Second Team.
During the 2009-2010 season, Flynn played in and started 81 games, averaging 13.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, while being named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
Then, injuries struck and by the 2011-2012 season, Flynn was no longer with the Timberwolves.
He had a four-year NBA career before spending a couple years overseas.
Rubio waited a couple years after being drafted before coming to the U.S. and finally made his debut during the 2011-2012 season.
Flynn and Rubio never even got to play together.
Since then, the Timberwolves have made the playoffs just once in 2018.
Rubio and Flynn are long gone from the Timberwolves, while Curry remains on the team he was drafted by and at age 32, is already a future Hall of Famer.
While passing on Curry will go down as one of the all-time NBA draft misses, the Timberwolves also passed on other point guards in the ’09 draft who are still playing today.
Those players include Jrue Holiday (No. 17), Jeff Teague (No. 19), Patrick Beverley (No. 42) and Patty Mills (No. 55).
The decision not to pick Curry will forever haunt the five teams that passed on him, especially the Timberwolves.
