Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 players in SI’s top 100 payers list

SHENZHEN, CHINA - OCTOBER 05: Jimmy Butler #23 and Karl-Anthony Towns #32. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)
SHENZHEN, CHINA - OCTOBER 05: Jimmy Butler #23 and Karl-Anthony Towns #32. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)
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Minnesota Timberwolves
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – APRIL 23: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves has the ball against James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

No. 19 – Karl-Anthony Towns

Once again, Karl-Anthony Towns finds himself ranked just behind Denver’s Nikola Jokic, who landed at No. 18.

The two big men are the same age and were both rookies in the same season and are often compared to one another; Towns was recently ranked just behind the Nuggets’ big man on FanSided’s 25-under-25 list.

Despite a dip in some of the counting numbers last year, Towns shot a career-best from the field, the 3-point line, and the free throw line and continued to show incremental defensive improvement. He still leaves a lot to be desired on that end of the floor, of course, but so does Jokic.

The one area in which Jokic has an edge is his court vision and passing ability, and that’s ultimately what got him the nod over KAT on this list.

Here’s an explanation from Jokic’s profile on the list:

"If we assume that every player on our list is surrounded by fairly average teammates as a sort of vacuum test, Jokic is among the most likely to elevate them. A middling role player will rarely look so good as when Jokic is force-feeding them points. This was a key point of separation between Jokic and Karl-Anthony Towns in the determination of their rankings. Both rebound well, space the floor, and score at similar rates. Neither is much of a defender. Jokic, though, averaged more assists per game than any other center in the three-point era, and has the receipts to prove his passing’s effect."

Remember, the Wolves beat the Nuggets in regular season No. 82 to clinch the No. 8 playoff seed last year, and Towns was an All-Star while Jokic has yet to make the team; such traditional but far-from-perfect measuring sticks may swing the consensus of the casual fan/general public towards Towns.

Notably, the Wolves’ superstar bested Ben Simmons (No. 26), John Wall (No. 24), Klay Thompson (No. 22), and LaMarcus Aldridge (No. 21). He was behind Jokic, Al Horford (No. 16), Rudy Gobert (No. 14), Draymond Green (No. 13), and Joel Embiid (No. 9).

It’s hard to argue this ranking too much. It still places him comfortably in All-Star territory, and a clear improvement on defense this season should easily vault him into the top 15 players.