Nikola Pekovic's Future Now in Immediate Question with Minnesota Timberwolves

Now that the Minnesota Timberwolves have been awarded the No. 1 overall pick, Nikola Pekovic's days in the North Star state appear to be numbered. With Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns or Duke's Jahlil Okafor a lock to be coming to town, the team should look to trade its current starting center. 

For a big man whose value is predicated on offensive contributions, Pekovic's 2014-15 campaign was a tough pill to swallow. His 12.5 points per game was his lowest output since his 2010-11 rookie season, while his 42.4 percent shooting from the field was the worst of his career.

Additionally, he battled through wrist and ankle troubles before being shut down for the year in April to undergo Achilles surgery. Pekovic played a total of 31 games this season, which was another career low. Since signing a five-year, $60 million deal in the summer of 2013, he has played in just 85 games over two seasons. 

Year	Games Played	FG%	PPG	RPG
2010-11	65	51.7	5.5	3.0
2011-12	47	56.4	13.9	7.4
2012-13	62	52	16.3	8.8
2013-14	54	54.1	17.5	8.7
2014-15	31	42.4	12.5	7.5

For Pekovic, the struggle to stay healthy throughout his career has been real, but this latest procedure has the 6'11", 295-pound monster concerned about his basketball future, per Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "I’m pretty much worrying about how this is going to affect my life in 10 years. I mean, I’m still thinking about basketball [too]. But when you deal so much with something like this. … It’s a big deal, I think.’’

If or when the 29-year-old returns to full strength, he'll be attempting to resurrect his career amidst a youth movement in Minnesota, led by Andrew Wiggins and this year's top pick. 

Towns (known as The Big KAT to me and only me) is the top prospect on our own Jonathan Wasserman's board, but Timberwolves team president and head coach Flip Saunders is rumored to prefer Okafor, per Draft Express' Jonathan Givony. 

However, Givony also reported there are rumors circulating that Okafor would rather go to the Los Angeles Lakers at No. 2 than start his NBA career in Minnesota.

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If Okafor indeed has his heart set on being a Laker like persistent rumors have indicated for some time now, it will be interesting to see if his agent Bill Duffy (a college friend of Flip Saunders at Minnesota) sends him in for a workout to play hardball.

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Regardless of who gets the call with the first pick, he will have his sights set on taking Pekovic's spot. 

The Youth Movement

Jennifer Pottheiser/Getty Images

The Timberwolves' frontcourt is already pretty crowded even without Towns or Okafor on the roster. Second-year man Gorgui Dieng filled in admirably for Pekovic this season, averaging 10.8 points, 8.8 boards, two blocks and 1.1 steals per game in 49 starts (44 at center, five at power forward), per NBA.com. 

Power forward Adreian Payne, last year's No. 15 overall pick acquired from the Atlanta Hawks in February, should factor into next season's equation, as well. The team could also bring back 25-year-old center Justin Hamilton, who will be a restricted free agent this summer.

Oh, and former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett is putting in work during the offseason, according to this post from new trainer Drew Hanlen's Instagram account.

Per SI.com's Scooby Axson, Saunders is also anticipating the return of 39-year-old Kevin Garnett, who is an unrestricted free agent. While KG doesn't factor much into the team's future, his presence as a mentor to the young Wolves is invaluable, and his competitive nature mandates that the club carves out some playing time for him. 

Barring something unforeseen, that group will be joined by either Towns or Okafor. Of the two, Okafor can provide the most immediate impact on the offensive end. He averaged 17.5 points and 8.5 boards for the Blue Devils, while shooting an astonishing 66.4 percent from the floor, per Sports-Reference.com.

However, according to Grantland's Andrew Sharp, Okafor's ability to defend in the pros is a question mark. 

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Okafor has a tendency to space out on defense. That part is fixable. But he hasn’t shown an ability to protect the rim or anchor a defense, and he’s too slow to guard quicker big men who float out to the perimeter. Those problems might be harder to solve.

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Meanwhile, defense appears to be Towns' specialty. He allowed an estimated 78.1 points per 100 possessions as a freshman, which led the nation. He swatted away 2.3 shots per game, and his blocking percentage of 11.5 percent was 17th-best in the country. 

Givony has more on Towns' defensive acumen:

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Defensively is where Towns separates himself as a prospect, and where his one year at Kentucky really helped him improve the most. He has the size and strength to defend centers effectively, but also the length and mobility to contain most 4s, giving him terrific positional versatility that is highly coveted in today's NBA.

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Towns also has a connection with Timberwolves small forward and reigning Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins dating back to the duo's time together in the 2013 Nike Hoop Summit. 

Towns spent his first year at Kentucky in a platoon situation, averaging 21.1 minutes per game. However, when you extrapolate his numbers per 40 minutes, you get an impressive nightly stat line of 19.5 points, 12.7 boards and 4.3 blocks. 

Minnesota can't go wrong with either prospect, as Okafor or Towns would either would be an excellent choice as the team's new franchise center. The club could go with Okafor to replace Pekovic's offensive production in the post or Towns to provide a defensive presence in the middle that the T'Wolves sorely lack.

Pekovic's Fatal Flaws

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

Minnesota had enough incentive to move on from Pekovic even before it won the draft lottery. The big man's durability concerns make him unreliable in the starting rotation. In his five years in the NBA, Pekovic has never played more than 65 games in a single season. 

Even if he makes a full recovery from Achilles surgery and is ready to go by the season opener, how certain can the team be he'll hold up all year, given his history?

Making matters worse, Pekovic's lackluster defense makes him a liability on the court. Of every NBA center or power forward who made at least 25 starts this season, Pekovic's defensive rating of 112 was the worst of them all. To put that in better perspective, defensively challenged big men such as Enes Kanter (106) and Carlos Boozer (109) managed to finish ahead of Pekovic.  

For those who think Dieng would be a much better alternative, you should know his defensive rating of 108 was third-worst of that group. 

The combination of poor health and even poorer defense played a huge role in the Montenegrin posting a player efficiency rating (PER) of 16.69, Pekovic's worst output since his rookie year. That number placed him 29th among NBA centers, per ESPN's Hollinger stats, trailing the likes of Tyler Zeller (19.01) and Cole Aldrich (18.16). 

If those stats aren't convincing enough for the team to cut bait, consider this: Pekovic made $12.1 million in 2014-15 and is still owed $35.8 million over the next three seasons, per Basketball Insiders. That's a lot of money for a man providing very little in return, especially on a rebuilding team with eyes to turn it around sooner rather than later.

Pekovic's huge contract and numerous red flags will make it hard for a potential suitor to step up to the table. With centers Marc Gasol, Tyson Chandler and DeAndre Jordan all hitting the open market this summer, teams with cap space would be better off spending their money on either of those three. 

Saunders' best hope of moving his expensive starting center may be preying on any desperate team still looking for a big man after the dust settles on this year's free-agent frenzy. 

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

At one point, Nikola Pekovic looked like a significant piece to the Minnesota Timberwolves' rebuilding project. He emerged on the scene in 2011-12 as an offensive weapon in the post who could also put in work on the boards. 

Since then, a failure to stay healthy or progress in other aspects of his game has diminished Pekovic's value to the team and as a member of this core. With a new franchise center on the way via the draft, Pekovic has gone from invaluable to expendable. 

While it will take time to generate interest in a potential trade, the big man shouldn't get too comfortable in the place he's called home for the past five seasons.