Minnesota Timberwolves: It’s time for the Wolves to pick a path

Path No. 2 for the Minnesota Timberwolves to take

The Rookie Contract Players Path: If this season hits the fan…

Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell are both 25 years old, although Towns turns 26 in November.

Russell has made one All-Star appearance while Towns has two under his belt, and each young star has been to the playoffs exactly once in their career.

Towns is signed through 2024 and Russell is signed through 2023, but both will be due an extension before the end of those contracts. So, if things go bad again this season, the Timberwolves would have to decide whether to extend these two or move on from each player while they still have years left on their contracts to intrigue another team to bring them in.

The West is deep again this year, as it has been for years now, and the Timberwolves would be lucky to make it into the top 10 and be part of the play-in round. Sure, playoff aspirations are great, but an eighth seed shouldn’t be the goal. That isn’t a true goal for any other team, but the Timberwolves have been bad for so long that it seems entirely reasonable.

Frankly, this is Anthony Edwards’s team now. Edwards proved last season he could score and take over, even though he wasn’t the first option every night. He showed pure dominance at times and he just turned 20. He’s under contract through 2024 and his salary i just a third of what Towns and Russell are making.

We saw what Towns can do as the first option, and it’s time to try out Edwards.

Towns would have to take a back seat and become the second option, which is something that didn’t go extremely well when Jimmy Butler was in town. Although the situation is admittedly not identical, there could still be cause for concern.

As for Russell, he seemed to play very well off-ball and in the third option duties when he came back from injury last season. But, let’s say it doesn’t and let’s say that Towns gets sick of losing and wants out, and Russell doesn’t want to be in Minnesota without Towns. Then what?

Well, the Wolves will still have their core group with the rookie contract players. Edwards, McDaniels, and Reid are all players to build around, and all of them are on affordable contracts. Bolmaro is an exciting question mark, and Nowell seems to be developing quite well as an option in the backcourt, including at the point guard spot.

The Timberwolves would then have to make the decision of trading Towns and Russell for players in return, or trade them for a multitude of draft picks and go the Oklahoma City Thunder route.

If they trade for players, we can assume it’s a team that thinks they need a restart. One more year of falling short in Portland could finally make Damian Lillard want a new beginning, and one more year of not making the playoffs could finally make Bradley Beal realize he’s only getting older and the Wizards sign-and-trade him. Or, maybe Zion Williamson really does want out of New Orleans.

A number of things could happen by the end of next season, but the homer in me struggles to find a package for which I’d be willing to move Towns and Russell, One thing I do know, however: if big name players elsewhere do want out, Towns and Russell would be a hard deal to pass up.

If the Timberwolves take the picks route, we assume they took back many picks and expiring contacts, then threw a max contract at free agents such as James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Bradley, or Kyrie Irving in 2022. Yes, Minnesota isn’t a free agent destination, but money and young talent always talk.

Whether it’s this year or next year, the Timberwolves need to pick a path. The only other option is to win the championship next season, and I guess I’d be okay with that too…