David Kahn is astonished.

Kahn, the Timberwolves president of basketball operations, was in Chicago, about to head into a predraft combine meeting Wednesday morning. But he took some time to react to the rather large reaction his post-draft lottery comments created.

"I'm astonished," he said. "But that's the world we live in."

Kahn noted that the reporters surrounding him Tuesday night chuckled. "It was completely meant in a light-hearted fashion," Kahn said. "And it was received as such. Nobody followed up with, 'What are you trying to say?' Nobody's antenna went up. ... Nobody there listening said, 'He's trying to [suggest a conspiracy].' It was the opposite. They laughed. They knew it was a joke."