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Minnesota Timberwolves’ Pick Tanguy Ngombo Lied About Age, Name

by on Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 8:29AM

On Thursday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded for 21-year-old Targuy Ngombo, the 57th pick in the NBA draft.

On Friday, it was revealed that the team had actually traded for 26-year-old Tanguy Ngombo.

Ngombo, a 6-foot-6 small forward from Qatar, claimed to be 21 when he declared for the NBA Draft. Yet the Qatar roster for the 2012 Olympics states his birth year as 1984 — meaning that the 21-year-old is actually a 26-year-old. If this is the case, Ngombo was ineligible to be drafted.

Ngombo was selected by the Portland Trailblazers, who took the forward with a pick they acquired from the Dallas Mavericks in the Rudy Fernandez deal. Portland then traded Ngombo to Minnesota.

The part that may be crazier than Ngombo’s lie was the fact that the Timberwolves believed it — and that online blogs unearthed the discrepancies.


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