4 reasons why Timberwolves rumors of Karl-Anthony Towns trade is nuts

Reason III: Timberwolves can never recoup traded picks and players

Think of the trade for Utah Jazz All-Star NBA center Rudy Gobert as a bit of a poison pill for the Minnesota Timberwolves. By trading four first-round draft picks and five players, the Timberwolves eliminated any and all chances for a mulligan, a do-over, or any other term used to describe bailing from their effort and returning safely to the starting point. In short, there is no turning back now.

Let’s break this down in a bit more detail.  In order to acquire the Timberwolves traded away the following draft picks:

2023 NFL Draft first-round pick
2025 NFL Draft first-round pick
2027 NFL Draft first-round pick
2029 NFL Draft first-round pick (Top-5 protected)
Right to swap 2026 NFL Draft first-round picks
On top of all those picks, the Timberwolves also included the following players:
SG Malik Beasley
PG Patrick Beverley
F Jarred Vanderbilt
F Leandro Bolmaro
C Walker Kessler (2022 NBA rookie)

Package traded for Gobert could devalue dramatically

While that may seem to be a king’s ransom, let’s stop and pause a moment. Whether or not you envision the equitable value in the Timberwolves trade for center Rudy Gober, the Timberwolves front office and coaching staff were most certainly on board. The reason? They all have been rather successful at pinpointing what an NBA team needs on the roster, and then getting it.

This is just one more such occasion, one more event when the Timberwolves have taken a calculated risk that met with the approval of many brighter NBA minds than we could ever hope to be. Right now, it’s easy to be concerned because the Timberwolves are still figuring this out.

But as they do, the Timberwolves get better. That makes this team more and more valuable, and the draft picks traded away less and less valuable. But even if the Timberwolves had somehow traded away the first overall pick, that pick is not a certainty. Recall not so long ago when the Philadelphia 76ers used their first overall draft pick to select the consensus top prospect, combination guard Markelle Fultz? That didn’t work out very well. Better the Timberwolves stick with one Rudy Gobert than 5 Markelle Fultz-type players.