Is Karl Anthony-Towns On His Way Out of Minnesota?
With all the trade talks surrounding the likes of James Harden, Damian Lillard, Pascal Siakam, and even Zach LaVine ongoing, it’s easy to forget some of the other players who could be on the move before season’s end. One such player has largely avoided headlines this summer by virtue of playing in a smaller market. However that doesn’t mean that front offices around the league aren’t closely monitoring his situation.
Are KAT’s Days in Minnesota Numbered?
In 2019, Karl Anthony-Towns signed a five-year contract worth $158.2M and an AAV of $31.6M. The 2023-2024 season is the final year of the deal before he’s eligible for free agency, meaning the T-Wolves front office has some tough decisions to make in the not so distant future. Chief among them, how best to continue Anthony Edwards’ development from raw prospect to amongst the NBA’s elite level talent.
After being selected by the T-Wolves as the top pick of the 2020 NBA Draft, Edwards has blossomed into the next franchise player in Minnesota. The incoming fourth-year player averaged a team leading 24.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.6 steals, on 45.9% field goal shooting last season- all career-highs.
During the 2023 playoffs, the “Ant-Man” took those figures up a notch, averaging 31.6 points, 5.2 assists, five rebounds, two blocks, and 1.8 steals in the team’s first-round series against the Denver Nuggets. By leading them in scoring last season, Edwards has effectively taken over the driver’s seat for the Wolves, who have now reached the playoffs in each of the past two seasons. This has caused many to believe that Edwards could be the core of the Wolves’ roster moving forward and not KAT- who was the top pick of the 2015 draft.
Part of the reason why many believe KAT might be on the move sooner rather than later is his partnership with Rudy Gobert. To put things bluntly, it simply isn’t producing the kind of results that GM Tim Connelly hoped it would when he shipped out 5 picks and 5 players for the Frenchman’s services.
Gobert averaged 13.4 points, 11.6 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, and 1.2 steals, while shooting 65.9% from the field across 70 regular-season games for Minnesota. He’s entering the third year of a five-year contract he signed with the Utah Jazz in 2021 and has a player option to pick up the 2025-2026 season.
While it’s unfair to judge the Gobert-KAT tandem after just one season, we can’t blame the Wolves should they decide to try to recoup assets from the seemingly ill-fated trade. Thus far, they haven’t made it past the first round of the playoffs in three attempts with KAT leading them. And it’s a stretch to think that the towering dup will suddenly turn things around in year 2.
With Edwards as the new star of the team and the Gobert trade widely being considered a mistake, speculation that Towns could become expendable has begun to gain momentum. So much so, that Bill Simmons recently wondered aloud on his podcast whether he could be a fit for Portland in a potential Lillard for KAT swap this season.
Towns averaged 20.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.8 assists, on 49.5% field goal shooting last season. Great numbers in a vacuum. He’s a three-time NBA All-Star and a two-time member of the All-NBA Third Team. While it’s still unlikely that he’ll ultimately be moved in the upcoming season, almost any team would benefit from acquiring KAT’s services.
Which puts the Minnesota front office in a delicate spot. Do they risk watching KAT walk at the conclusion of the year for nothing? Do they try to find a trade partner to replenish their stock of picks and prospects which currently sits bare after the Gobert deal? Or is an extension still in play?
In most cases, most of those decisions lie in the player’s hands. But in this case, the Timberwolves may have to bite the bullet and do what’s best for the long term future of the club. A future that seems more and more like it stars Anthony Edwards and not Karl-Anthony Towns by the day.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.