KAT sends strong message regarding trade rumors

Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Karl-Anthony Towns sends strong message regarding Timberwolves trade rumors

By Vinny Somma | Last updated 6/27/23

Rumblings of the Minnesota Timberwolves trading franchise centerpiece Karl-Anthony Towns have swirled for years. This offseason has been no different. Despite the noise, Towns made it clear he has zero desire to move on from the franchise that selected him No. 1 overall back in 2015.

"I just know I can control what I know and how my mindset is," Towns said, per Adam Caparell of GQ Sports. "I've said I want to do great things in Minnesota and nothing in my mind has changed that. They're the ones with the cards. They'll let me know how they look at me in my eyes and that's where we'll go from."

Minnesota has a conundrum on its hands — at least financially. After locking up Naz Reid on a $42M extension, the team's frontcourt trio of Reid, Towns and Rudy Gobert are worth $443M combined. The latter is owed $131.6M through 2026 while Towns' four-year, $234.5 million supermax extension is set to kick in 2024-25.

The Timberwolves are paying their center-trio of Rudy, KAT and Naz around $443M combined, via @spotrac pic.twitter.com/xKCo1wsdIb
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 25, 2023

At 27, Towns is four years the junior of the 31-year-old Gobert and far more effective on the offensive end of the court, making him the more tradable candidate of the two — a notion NBA insider Marc Stein recently reiterated.

Towns has been highly productive throughout his Timberwolves tenure, averaging 23 points and 11.2 rebounds over his career. Yet, his individual brilliance has mostly failed to carry over to overall team success. The Timberwolves have missed the playoffs in five of Towns' eight years in Minnesota, never once advancing past the first round.

Flipping Towns in trade to better round out their roster around emerging star Anthony Edwards and unclog their frontcourt should very much be on the table for the Timberwolves this offseason.

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