Pass or Pursue: 3 potential Karl-Anthony Towns Timberwolves trades

Have you had enough of the NBA Rumors that seem to be pulled to the Minnesota Timberwolves like asteroids to the surface of a nearby planet? If your answer is yes, then I have some bad news for you. It’s not over just yet. They are everywhere.

The truth is that it’s almost impossible to avoid trade scenarios that name the Minnesota Timberwolves and star power forward/center Karl Anthony Towns. The setup for a trade scenario is too perfectly set up. Karl-Anthony Towns is a versatile NBA elite player who can move the needle on almost every team he would join.

And the consensus that the Timberwolves will be forced to trade him at the 2024 NBA Trade deadline is universally accepted that anything goes. I’m growing a bit more doubtful that any trade is a certainty. But for now, let’s just push a pin into that thought for a future discussion. For now, let’s address the fact that the Minnesota Timberwolves continue to be named in NBA rumors and as one of the teams involved in speculative NBA Trade scenarios.

The basic questions for any NBA Trade scenarios are:

1. I – Can the teams do it?
2. II – Does it make sense for the teams to do it?
3. III- Would a normal NBA GM make this trade for either team?

In most proposed NBA trades, the originator clears the first question and then stops there. But fans, with the exception of some of the more extremes found on social media, can detect when an NBA trade has enough value to both teams to reach the realm of possibility.

And that is the part that makes NBA trade scenarios so challenging. To construct one that can bridge the Win-Win test for reasonableness, the author must have better than a casual familiarity with all teams involved in that trade.