Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Waiting on Karl-Anthony Towns’ extension

Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns still has not signed his maximum contract extension. And folks are still wondering, “why not?”.

Every single NBA player who is offered the maximum rookie contract has accepted it.

Put simply, let’s not expect that to change any time soon — and that includes the Minnesota Timberwolves and Karl-Anthony Towns.

(After all, we’re talking about $158.1 million, and an extra $31 million or so if Towns is named to the All-NBA squad this year. That’s … hard to walk away from.)

But all that said, the ink has yet to hit the paper. And we don’t really have concrete evidence that the offer has even been made, although it would certainly be surprising if it hasn’t.

This week, Ramona Shelburne, Amin Elhassan, Royce Young discussed the delay on ESPN’s The Jump. They correctly identified that there is some tension inside the organization (thanks for that; nobody had heard that previously), and that while the optics aren’t good, it will ultimately happen.

Side note: if you needed a reminder about why Towns is apparently nice and ticked off at the front office, all of the B-roll in the above-linked ESPN video that includes former player development coach Vince Legarza should jog some memories. You’ll recall that he was KAT’s favorite coach, and the two were extremely close. Apparently, the Wolves let Legarza go without so much as giving Towns a warning.

Here was Towns at his basketball camp a couple of weeks ago:

The Jimmy Butler-is-angry-at-Towns thing is still a thing, too, and Elhassan’s comments on The Jump hint at an attitude that Butler and head coach Tom Thibodeau seem to share, and it’s one that Towns apparently does not appreciate.

At any rate, the only true takeaways from this whole mess are as follows:

A) Butler and Thibodeau have extremely high standards and aren’t exactly tactful in communicating said expectations,

B) Towns can come across as faux-earnest at times, and while I don’t think anyone is questioning his will to win, there are times when his on-court behavior suggests an over-it-ness, if that makes any sense, and

C) Despite all of this tension, there is less than a one-percent chance that this contract doesn’t get signed. It’s too much money to walk away from, and Towns is absolutely worth it.

What we don’t know is what that will mean for both Andrew Wiggins (will the Wolves genuinely try to trade him to free up cap space in the wake of this deal?) and Jimmy Butler, who the Wolves will offer the maximum next summer. Will Butler sign the next contract offer from the Wolves, or is he more likely to test the market?

Obviously, there’s more to come on this saga. But in the grand scheme of things, don’t worry about whether or not the deal will get done. It will. Eventually.