The Minnesota Timberwolves have been historically bad for years, and former general manager David Kahn played a big part in that. Ask Stephen Curry.
Yes, we’re talking about the same GM who consecutively picked up two point guards in 2009 draft — but still somehow managed to completely ignore the now 2-time MVP and 3-time champion Stephen Curry.
Just to give a quick recap of Kahn’s rather questionable decision making, the disenchanted Wolves had the fifth and six picks that year. They nabbed Ricky Rubio at number 5, which was understandable given the young, exciting Spaniard was all the rage back then.
The logical move would have been to take a big or even a wing player at number 6. But for some inexplicable reason, David Kahn opted to draft the undersized playmaker from Syracuse, Johnny Flynn. Curry fell to the Golden State Warriors’ lap at seventh, while another perennial All-Star, DeMar DeRozan, was taken by the Toronto Raptors at ninth.
To Kahn’s defense, there weren’t a lot of great bigs in that draft, while Rubio went on to stay in Spain for two more years. Still, maybe the Wolves could have turned their franchise’s fortunes around had they went with Curry at the time.
That was a pretty messed up call on Kahn’s part. But believe it or not, that wasn’t the worst draft day decision he ever made. Fast forward to 2011, the 58-year-old executive somehow managed to completely butcher the team’s late second-round pick.
Perhaps in a bid to uncover a gem that no other team has ever heard of, David Kahn went out his way to draft an unknown Congolese-Qatari player at the 57th pick. He wanted to acquire this 6-foot-6 forward so bad that he bought the pick from the Portland Trail Blazers.
David Kahn got his guy, selecting Tanguy Ngombo 57th overall. Except for Kahn, not a lot of people even had the vaguest clue who this guy is—and that’s for a good reason.
Ngombo was deemed as one of those infamous “Draft and Stash” types of players. They were packaged as a raw talent who could be the team’s future, only to never be heard from again. A lot of international prospects fell on this void.
In fact, Ngombo was so obscure that even ESPN didn’t have highlight clips of this supposed 21-year-old prospect. The sports network giant resorted to ripping off YouTube for a draft video, while his profile photo was from Google images.
In the broadcast, draft analyst Jeff Van Gundy even hilariously admitted that he has never heard of the guy.
“I got nothing for you,” JVG said after being asked by the late Stuart Scott about Ngombo.
It is also worth noting that 2-time All-Star Isiah Thomas was drafted three picks later by the Sacramento Kings at number 60.
Ngombo was declared ineligible for the draft. Turns out, David Kahn’s choice entered the draft fraudulently. Ngombo altered his name by listing it as “Targuy” and lying about his age.
The Qatar national team declared that Ngombo was born in 1984 and was 26 years old at the time. NBA rules indicate that an international player who is over the age of 22 is not eligible for the draft and must be signed as a free agent.
A quick search on FIBA’s website could have saved the Wolves the pain and embarrassment. This could have been avoided had David Kahn and the front office done a simple background check.
Instead, David Kahn wasted the pick (and cash) on an unknown player who literally could not be drafted.
Still not convinced that David Kahn is the worst NBA GM of All-Time? Let’s take a look at his other massive blunders:
— In a live interview, he called out his own player, Michael Beasley, for smoking too much weed. He got fined by league $50,000 for his comments.
— David Kahn traded an injured player during a nationally televised game, then claimed the injury was “undisclosed”.
— Apart from the ’09 draft blunder, David Kahn also picked out two major busts: Wesley Johnson (4th overall, 2010) and Derrick Williams (2nd, 2011).
David Kahn was dismissed by the Wolves in 2013 and is a pariah in the league.
Nowadays, David Kahn has been banished to the second division French Pro B League as President of Paris Basketball.
Bad luck continues to follow Kahn overseas, as his team compiled a losing record despite having former NBA player Kris Joseph.
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