A couple of Minnesota Timberwolves big men have been in the news this weekend.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are likely not even halfway through what is turning into the longest offseason in NBA history.
But that doesn’t mean things haven’t been eventful.
It’s been more than six weeks since the George Floyd tragedy in Minneapolis, but the effort that Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns is putting into healing both locally and on a national scale has not gone unnoticed.
Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Towns feature, Naz Reid plays Fortnite
As part of Bleacher Report’s “30 teams in 30 days” initiative, Jonathan Abrams penned a piece with a focus on the past nine or so months in Towns’ life, spanning the impressive start that both KAT and his Wolves squad had to the 2019-20 campaign, his mother’s tragic death due to COVID-19 this spring, and the Wolves’ response to the killing of Floyd at the end of May.
Abrams also has quotes from president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas and head coach Ryan Saunders.
"“The pandemic and the tragic killing of George Floyd here in Minneapolis has forced our group into real hard conversations and a coming together,” said Gersson Rosas, Minnesota’s president of basketball operations and the league’s first Latino to hold that role. “Supporting Karl-Anthony Towns through the death of his mother has rallied our group, has rallied our community, has rallied our league, and that’s brought us together. I’m excited for what all of that means once we’re able to get together and work together.”"
It’s a good piece about a series of important topics, including the response of Towns and the Wolves as a whole.
Elsewhere, in a complete, 180-degree turn towards a more lighthearted subject, Wolves big man Naz Reid was featured at Uproxx after playing Fortnite with one of their writers.
The author, Ryan Nagelhout, tells us that Reid only plays NBA 2k, Madden, and Fortnite, the latter of which gave Nagelhout the best chance to be competitive.
The piece chronicles their matchup, and Reid gives a bit of insight into what he’s been up to since the Wolves and the rest of the NBA went on hiatus in mid-March.
"“I’ve been trying to keep my mind off the court as long as I can because lord knows everybody’s itching to get back on it,” Reid told Uproxx Gaming. “So you want to get back on it but you can’t right now, so you’re trying to find new hobbies and just stay focused and stay positive.”"
We’ll be back throughout the week here at Dunking With Wolves with some predictions about roles for individual players currently on the Wolves roster, plus more preliminary draft coverage as we wait for the lottery on Aug. 25.