The Minnesota Timberwolves once again find themselves at the bottom of the league and the vision for the future is unclear. Can the Wolves find the right path to help claw themselves back to relevancy?
By all accounts, the 2020-21 season has been a disappointment for the Timberwolves. The team has been plagued by injuries to Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell, hampered by a 12-game suspension for Malik Beasley, and slow to adjust to a coaching change after the firing of Ryan Saunders.
For many fans, this year has felt hopeless and given many people a bitter outlook towards the organization’s future.
President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas has created a vision for the future with two different pathways to success. One such path involves building around Towns in the immediate future to bring the Timberwolves’ franchise back to relevance. The trade for Russell last season, which involved giving up Andrew Wiggins and a top-three protected draft pick, suggested that Rosas was willing to go all-in on this path.
However, Rosas decided to hold onto the first-overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, selecting Anthony Edwards, and then proceeded to fill out the roster with an assortment of young, inexperienced players. The Minnesota Timberwolves have the youngest roster in the league with an average age of 24, a title usually held by teams looking to slowly build a contender for many years down the road.
With the March 25 trade deadline quickly approaching, these two paths may finally be set to diverge, forcing Rosas to place both feet firmly on one side of the road.
Path #1: Karl-Anthony Towns
The “Towns” path is likely the preferred path for Gersson Rosas as he would almost certainly be around to see it to fruition. However, this path is also the hardest to accomplish after the events of the 2020-21 season.
There is no denying that Karl-Anthony Towns is a superstar talent, but his status among the league’s greats has waned recently. In 2017, Towns was voted by NBA general managers as the top option to build a franchise around. It’s been four years, and we may be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of GM’s who would have him in their top 20.
Don’t believe me? Take a look at the 27 All-Stars from this season, including three injury replacements, and try to find more than seven players that general managers would unanimously rank behind Towns.
New head coach Chris Finch has promised to regain the perceived value of Towns and Russell. Finch believes in the potential of the currently constructed roster as long as its core players are put in positions to succeed. More than one year since the franchise-altering trade, Towns and Russell have still only played five total games together but there is reason for optimism in the ceiling of this duo once they are able to share the court for a significant period of time.
Recently, multiple reports suggest that Minnesota is interested in acquiring a starting-caliber power forward at the trade deadline. The team has been connected to John Collins of the Atlanta Hawks and Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic, among others.
A move for either of these players would be another step towards the “Towns” path, especially if the team were to give up another draft pick in the process. Collins and Gordon are 23 and 25 years old, respectively, both with the potential to improve while also being ready to contribute toward a winning culture immediately.
A trade for one more established piece would signal to the team and fans alike that it is time to take the next step. Towns is a generational talent in the prime of his career and the organization is on the clock to start winning before his contract expires. Russell was acquired last season to create a one-two punch that could compete with the elite duos in the Western Conference. Now, Edwards is already showing signs of becoming an imposing scoring threat in the near future.
There are no more excuses; this core has to succeed or else a different path will have to be found.
Path #2: The Youth Movement
The second path for Minnesota focuses on building a true contender three to five years down the road.
To the surprise of many, Rosas kept one foot on this path by drafting three rookies last fall in Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, and Leandro Bolmaro. Both Edwards and McDaniels have already flashed elite-level talent as potential foundation pieces of the future.
The greatest challenge here is the Timberwolves’ top-three protected pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Minnesota has just a 40.1 percent chance of keeping the pick and doing so could immediately change the franchise’s trajectory.
The ultimate prize in this year’s draft is Cade Cunningham, a combo guard from Oklahoma State University. A trio of Cunningham, Edwards, and McDaniels would give Minnesota the brightest future among any of the youth movements across the league with three elite talents who on paper seem to complement each other.
This trajectory may inspire the front office to reset the roster by trading Towns; a decision that could alienate the fan base at first glance but could pay huge dividends.
Unfortunately, everything stated above is based in theory while reality proves that Minnesota is more likely than not going to lose their 2021 draft pick to the Golden State Warriors. Forfeiture of their pick would force Rosas’ hand to commit to one path this summer.
If Rosas believes that the core of Towns and Russell can compete at the highest level, then it will be time to go for it. This could mean trading away young prospects in an effort to get experienced players who fit between Towns and Russell. The team would essentially be betting the future of the franchise on this core succeeding in the immediate future before questions surrounding player contracts start to become a problem.
The alternative solution is to trade Towns this summer with the intention of regaining the lost draft capital. The current asking price for an All-Star-caliber player is a young piece with potential plus three or more draft picks. Minnesota could demand a king’s ransom for Towns, especially with three years remaining on his contract.
Edwards and McDaniels would then become the new foundation pieces alongside any young players acquired in the trade. This is an extreme version of the aforementioned “Youth Movement” path as Minnesota would be incentivized to tank for an additional season with the goal of adding another elite talent from the 2022 draft class.
The path forward for the Minnesota Timberwolves organization is clouded, but choosing the correct path over the coming months is the key to building a contender in the years ahead.