Minnesota Bought a Known Fit Before the Draft
Minnesota sent the No. 18 pick in the 2012 draft to Houston for Chase Budinger and the draft rights to Lior Eliyahu. Budinger was not a mystery to the Timberwolves. He had played for Rick Adelman in Houston, shot 40.2 percent from three in 2011-12 and was entering his age-24 season. The Wolves were trying to add shooting and athleticism around Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, so the logic was immediate rather than developmental. Houston took the opposite approach by turning a useful veteran wing into a first-round swing.
Budinger Helped, but Injuries Limited the Original Plan
Budinger's Minnesota tenure never became the breakout the Wolves hoped for, largely because injuries interrupted his first two seasons. Basketball-Reference credits him with 23 games in 2012-13 and 41 in 2013-14 before he reached 67 appearances in 2014-15. Across those three seasons he played 131 games for Minnesota, usually as a reserve floor-spacer. The production was useful rather than transformative, but it gave the Wolves multiple seasons of NBA minutes from the primary player they acquired.
The Eliyahu Rights Eventually Produced Another NBA Return
The unusual part of Minnesota's package lasted far longer than Budinger. Lior Eliyahu never played in the NBA, but the Wolves retained his draft rights for seven years. In July 2019, Minnesota traded those rights to Golden State and received Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham. That later transaction does not retroactively turn Eliyahu into a star asset, but it does mean the rights were not dead inventory. They ultimately generated two more NBA players, giving the original 2012 return a small additional layer of realized value.
Houston Has a Strong Counterargument in Terrence Jones
Houston used the No. 18 pick on Terrence Jones, and his best stretch was better than Budinger's Minnesota peak. Jones started 71 games in 2013-14 while averaging 12.1 points and 6.9 rebounds, then remained a productive frontcourt piece when healthy over the next two seasons. His Rockets tenure was also shortened by injuries and ended after 2015-16 without another major asset coming back. The canonical grading gives Minnesota only a slight edge, which fits a deal where both teams received legitimate value and neither side found a lasting cornerstone.
Final Verdict
Slight Wolves Edge — Houston C, Minnesota C+. Houston turned the No. 18 pick into Terrence Jones, who produced the highest individual season in the transaction and started 71 games in 2013-14. Minnesota received three seasons of Chase Budinger and preserved value in Lior Eliyahu's rights long enough to use them in the 2019 acquisition of Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham. The result is close and debatable, but the canonical grades favor Minnesota's broader realized package by a narrow margin rather than treating Houston's productive draft pick as a miss.