Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Hagans waived, Towns makes history

The Minnesota Timberwolves had another busy weekend, including a roster move and a bit of history made by their superstar big man.

The Wolves also played twice, splitting a pair of road games with possible Eastern Conference playoff teams.

Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Ashton Hagans waived

The Iowa Wolves began play last Wednesday. They’re off to a rough start with an 0-3 record, but they’ve also already lost one of the players who was expected to be a big part of the team.

The G League club was fined and saw a few players suspended without pay after reportedly violating the Health and Safety Protocols.

Then, over the weekend, the Wolves released two-way guard Ashton Hagans, who had appeared in two games with the big club earlier in the season but joined the Iowa Wolves in the G League bubble a couple of weeks ago.

Shortly after the Timberwolves announced the roster move, The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski reported that Ashton Hagans was released after his violation of team protocols.

While we don’t know exactly what Hagans did, including why he was released and the other players who were suspended without pay have apparently not been waived, it’s clear that the Wolves want to send a message.

The impact of this move on the Timberwolves, of course, is that there is now a two-way slot and a spot available on the 15-man roster. No word yet on what the Wolves plan to do with it, but don’t be surprised if they leave it open until closer to the March 25 trade deadline in order to help facilitate any potential deals.

Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Karl-Anthony Towns makes history

The Minnesota Timberwolves have a new all-time 3-point leader.

On Sunday night against the Toronto Raptors, Karl-Anthony Towns passed Andrew Wiggins, who set the mark just last season, for the franchise’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals made.

Yes, Towns setting the mark says quite a bit.

First, it’s incredible that Towns broke the franchise record in what is only the beginning of his sixth season in the league, and over the course of only 365 games. And not only that, he’s not some guard launching threes at a reckless pace. He’s a 7-footer with one of the better post games in the league that is also draining 3-pointers at a 39.7 percent clip to this point in his career.

Over the last three seasons, that includes Towns attempting 5.6 threes per game and hitting on 40.7 percent of them. He truly might be the best-shooting big man of all-time. Crazy stuff.

And while the focus is (and should be) on Towns and his incredible ability, it’s also fair to point out the ineptitude of the Wolves franchise by taking a glance at the list of players Towns passed.

Wiggins and his 33.2 percent efficiency are second, followed by Anthony Peeler. Peeler made 465 threes in 379 games, starting roughly half of his games in a Wolves uniform. There are a pair of All-Stars on the list just below Peeler in Wally Szczerbiak and Kevin Love, but things go downhill from there.

For some perspective, No. 9 and No. 10 on the list are the infamous Rashad McCants and new-old Wolf Ricky Rubio. So, there’s that.

But let’s not get lost in the past. That’s for another day. Karl-Anthony Towns is an incredible talent and one of the best shooting big man in NBA history. He has plenty more Timberwolves franchise records to break, and this is just the first of many that will fall.

Congrats, KAT!