Pass or Pursue: FanSided’s 4 trades could be KAT-astrophic for Wolves

If you think that the start of, and ongoing competition that’s on display during, the 2023 FIBA World Cup competition would somehow trigger a cease-fire in the incessant supply of NBA Trade scenarios that name the Minnesota Timberwolves and target power forward Karl-Anthony Towns, think again. In fact, four new NBA Trade scenarios just hit the streets a few days ago from FanSided’s Lior Lampert.

We had already assessed one such scenario if for no other reason than the Charlotte Hornets website, Swarm and Sting, had taken a look at it and given it two thumbs up – the seal of approval. But that was just one of four such scenarios. So . . .

Our job’s not finished. We have three more such proposed exchanges to ponder, pass on, or pursue, in terms of improving the Minnesota Timberwolves’ roster. But it’s a lot like going on a first date with someone you’ve never met. You truly have no way of knowing if things will work out for the better or worse. You must simply do a lot of homework, compare and assess qualities for compatibility, and then close your eyes and take a huge leap of faith.

But to do any of that, you have to have two NBA teams that are incredibly motivated and of the opinion that each team involved in the trade will emerge as the better team. Either the team will be immediately improved, or the team will have improved their future in a significantly better way.

But for the Minnesota Timberwolves fans, trade scenarios are intended to solve a problem that is not yet here. Rather, it’s based on a fear of future failure, and that makes any scenario difficult to truly embrace just yet.  Why?  Well, for the Timberwolves front office to truly embrace a trade such as the three trade scenarios remaining, the following must happen:

1. Karl-Anthony Towns cannot return to his old All-Star NBA form
2. The Minnesota Timberwolves can no longer afford to pay Towns relative to other players.
3. Another NBA team will view Towns as worth his salary and will offer a competitive trade package to acquire him.

With the proliferation of data analytics, it’s difficult to see a realistic path for the third condition. If Towns does indeed stumble in the 2023-24 NBA season so much as to trigger conditions 1 and 2, then 3 is unlikely to occur. But the opposite is also true. That is, if 3 occurs, then neither 1 nor 2 will occur.

Okay, so it is going to be very difficult to connect the cables in these scenarios. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s check them out: