Karl-Anthony Towns could end up as the odd man out in Minnesota if the Timberwolves’ ownership change ends up going through.
On this week’s episode of “The Hoop Collective,” Brian Windhorst of ESPN touched on the situation with the Timberwolves and their current ownership uncertainty. Windhorst said that he does not believe that Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore would break up the team but added that Towns’ role in Minnesota could be re-evaluated.
“I do not think that they would tear the team apart,” said Windhorst, per RealGM. “However, I do think there’s a possibility if the ownership change took place that Karl Towns’ role would be re-evaluated.”
Rodriguez and Lore, who currently own 40 percent of the Timberwolves, were all set to take over majority control of the team from longtime owner Glen Taylor in March (pursuant to a deal that they had struck in 2021). But Taylor backed out of the deal at the last minute, citing supposed failures by Rodriguez and Lore to meet contractual deadlines throughout the transfer process. As a result, Minnesota’s ownership situation is still up in the air as the matter heads to arbitration.
As for Towns, he is a four-time All-Star who is Minnesota’s longest-tenured player and also remains in the prime of his career at 28 years old. But he is still owed $221 million over the next four years and struggled in the team’s Western Conference Finals run this season (receiving some ruthless memes as a result). With Sixth Man of the Year winner Naz Reid, who is four years younger, shoots the three almost as well, and wrestled away some of Towns’ minutes in the postseason, waiting in the wings, there is an argument to be made for trading Towns in order to create more financial flexibility.
Indeed, a previous report had suggested that Taylor was concerned with financial projections by Rodriguez and Lore that allegedly featured steep payroll cuts. While Windhorst added that he doesn’t think the new owners would slash costs just purely to save money, it does sound like Towns’ fit from a basketball standpoint may be reassessed.
