The 1989 NBA expansion draft was the ninth
expansion draft of the
National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 15, 1989, so that the newly founded
Minnesota Timberwolves and
Orlando Magic could acquire players for the upcoming
1989–90 season.
Minnesota and
Orlando had been awarded the expansion teams on April 22, 1987.[1] In an NBA expansion draft, new NBA teams are allowed to acquire players from the previously established teams in the league. Not all players on a given team are available during an expansion draft, since each team can protect a certain number of players from being selected. In this draft, each of the twenty-three other NBA teams had protected eight players from their roster and the Magic and the Timberwolves selected twelve and eleven unprotected players respectively, one from each team. The previous year's expansion teams, the
Charlotte Hornets and the
Miami Heat, were not involved in this draft and did not lose any player. Prior to the draft, the league conducted a
coin flip between the Timberwolves and the Magic to decide their draft order in this expansion draft and in the
1989 NBA draft. The Magic won the coin flip and chose to have the first selection and the right to select twelve players in this expansion draft, thus allowing the Timberwolves to receive the higher pick in the 1989 Draft.[2]
The Timberwolves were formed and owned by a group headed by Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner.[9] The Timberwolves were the second NBA franchise to play in Minnesota, following the Minneapolis Lakers, which moved to Los Angeles and became the
Los Angeles Lakers in 1960.[10] Former
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach
Bill Musselman was hired as
the franchise's first head coach.[9] The Timberwolves used their first pick to select
Detroit Pistons starting power forward
Rick Mahorn.[11] However, Mahorn refused to report to the Timberwolves and was traded to the
Philadelphia 76ers prior to the start of the season.[12][13] The Timberwolves' other selections included one-time All-Star
Steve Johnson and two former first-round picks,
David Rivers and
Maurice Martin. However, Rivers and Martin never played for the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves also selected
West German center
Gunther Behnke, who had never played in the NBA.[11] Four players from the expansion draft joined the Timberwolves for their inaugural season, but only one played more than one season for the team.
Tyrone Corbin played two and a half seasons for the Timberwolves before he was traded in 1991.[14]
Prior to the day of the draft, the following
trades were made and resulted in exchanges of future draft picks between the teams, along with a particular agreement in the expansion draft.