Former Minnesota high school basketball standout and Gophers player Royce White was back in his home state Tuesday to work out for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves have the No. 18 pick in the NBA draft, which will be held June 28. Minnesota doesn't need another forward, but it has a history of drafting them early. The team’s last three first-round picks were forwards Wesley Johnson, Lazar Hayward and Derrick Williams.

White, a versatile 6-foot-8-inch forward, is projected as a late first-round pick in most mock drafts, due in part to his stellar sophomore season at Iowa State.

In his first and only season with the Cyclones, the Minneapolis native was an All-Big 12 selection and the only Division-I player to lead his team in points (13.4), rebounds (9.3), assists (5.0), steals (1.2) and blocks (0.9).

White was Minnesota's Mr. Basketball in 2009. To the favor of locals, he chose to play for the Gophers upon graduating from Hopkins High School.

However, he left the University of Minnesota less than a year later — before playing a single minute in a Gophers uniform. A slew of legal issues preceded and followed his self-announced departure from Minnesota.

White eventually chose ISU, where he had to sit out the entire 2010-11 season because of NCAA transfer rules.

He nearly single-handedly brought ISU out of the Big 12's cellar, leading the Cyclones back into the nation's top-25 and to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2005. Iowa State lost to eventual national champion Kentucky in the tournament's second round.

The Timberwolves worked out five other prospects Tuesday, including Jordan Taylor, who starred at Benilde-St. Margaret's High School and played four seasons with the University of Wisconsin.