The Minnesota Timberwolves haven't sent any signals they're prepared to trade star Karl-Anthony Towns, according to SKOR North's Darren Wolfson.
Wolfson said at the 7:03 mark of his podcast Sunday that he isn't ruling out a Towns trade this summer entirely. However, he spoke with officials from two teams "that make logical sense" for Towns and that those executives have heard "crickets" and "not had any trade dialogue with the Wolves."
Last Friday, Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus reported "other competing executives think [Towns] will be long gone ahead of the 2024-25 campaign." He added there's a belief within the NBA that "Minnesota would jump at an opportunity in the next few weeks."
The Timberwolves clearly thought Rudy Gobert would help get them over the top in the Western Conference, only to discover they're basically stuck in the same place they were before acquiring the Frenchman. Minnesota won four fewer games in 2022-23 and suffered another first-round playoff exit.
If anything, the franchise is in an even worse position than it was before the 2022 offseason kicked into full gear.
Gobert is a negative trade asset thanks to the $131.5 million he's owed over the next three years. The Wolves don't have much in the way of draft compensation to help land another major star, either.
Trading Towns is the most straightforward way to hit the reset button or retool, and the emergence of Anthony Edwards would help to soften the blow.
Edwards averaged 24.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists this season, and he rose to the occasion in the playoffs. He scored 30-plus points in three of Minnesota's five games.
The 21-year-old could either be the centerpiece of a rebuild or the new focal point around which the front office attempts to maintain a contender.
A year or two ago, there would've been almost no way to frame a KAT trade as anything other than a disaster for the Timberwolves. As with Kevin Garnett and Kevin Love, the organization failed to build an adequate supporting cast around a multi-time All-Star.
Assuming Edwards commits his future—he's eligible to sign a max extension this summer—to the team, Minnesota could now put a positive spin on a post-Towns future if it comes to that.
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June 12, 2023 at 10:23PM
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Karl-Anthony Towns Rumors: 'Crickets' on Potential Wolves Trade Entering NBA Draft - Bleacher Report
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