NBA Rumors: Are the Minnesota Timberwolves ready to trade Karl-Anthony Towns?

NBA Rumors: Teams are preparing to make a run at Karl-Anthony Towns during the offseason. Would the Minnesota Timberwolves trade him?

After making one of the biggest splashes of the offseason in which the Minnesota Timberwolves acquired Rudy Gobert (from the Utah Jazz), I’m not sure many envisioned that this team would be outside the top 8 in the Western Conference standings with a record under .500 with less than 20 games remaining in the regular season.

Nevertheless, this is where the Wolves stand heading into the final few weeks of the season. Even though the season already appeared to be headed toward a bad place before the injury, you can’t help but wonder where the team would be right now if Karl-Anthony Towns had never gotten hurt.

Towns has only played in 21 games this season and is still expected to miss the next 2-3 weeks. The hope is that he can return for the last few games of the season. However, nothing is certain and if it appears that the Wolves are going to fall out of playoff positioning entirely, it wouldn’t be surprising for the team to play it safe with Towns and shut him down for the remainder of the season.

Will the Minnesota Timberwolves make another big move this offseason?

Despite what happens over the next few weeks, it’s clear that the Wolves have some big decisions to make this offseason. And rival teams will be waiting for their opportunity to potentially pounce on Towns. According to a recent chat on his podcast with Wolves reporters, ESPN’s Zach Lowe indicates that teams will be asking about Towns’ availability on the trade market this offseason.

The idea of Towns being traded was quickly shot down by Wolves’ insiders, however. At least for now, it doesn’t seem as if the Wolves are willing to trade Towns.

And that’s not that surprising. After investing all they did last offseason in Gobert, it would not be the smartest of moves to simply turn around and then trade Towns. And it would make even less sense after such a disastrous season, filled with injuries.

You’d have to imagine that the Wolves are going to give this core a chance to prove the naysayers wrong next year. Whether that ends up being the right decision or not remains to be seen, but I don’t think the Wolves are in a place where they can retool the roster.

Plus, Towns is still under contract for at least the next four seasons in Minnesota. At 27 years old and considering his contract situation with the team, it would be unwise to simply give up on Towns this offseason. That won’t keep teams from trying to pry him away, it appears.