For an organization that endured very little success throughout the Kevin Garnett and Kevin love years, the Minnesota Timberwolves have risen to relevancy in the early years of upcoming superstar Anthony Edwards’ career. Coming off the back of a third successive post-season appearance— in which it advanced all the way to the Western Conference Finals for only the second time in franchise history—The Wolves have once again looked to shake up the roster, two years removed from the Rudy Gobert trade. A trade that was shortly followed by the addition of veteran Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker in a three-team trade that saw D’Angelo Russell head to the Los Angeles Lakers.
2023-2024 Season Review
Despite making the playoffs the previous two seasons via the newly instated Play-in tournament, the Timberwolves caught the entire league by surprise as they forced their way into the elite tier of Western Conference teams. They finished as the third seed, only behind the at-the-time defending champions Denver Nuggets and the up-and-coming Oklahoma City Thunder.
A combination of factors played a role in the Timberwolves taking the league by storm. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert picked up the award for the fourth time after anchoring the Wolves to a #4 rated defense. Contrary to his time with the Utah Jazz, where he was regularly tasked with shouldering much of the burden on defense due to the weak defensive personnel around him, he found himself in a starting lineup that included Jaden McDaniels (who earned his first All-Defensive 2nd team selection in what was only his fourth year as a pro).
While he was never quite a glaring negative on defense, Edwards also took a noticeable leap on that end of the court, both in terms of effort and execution. Along with Conley’s experience and know-how and the size and length of now-former teammate, Karl-Anthony Towns. The Wolves had assembled a group of elite, complementary talent that would help catapult them to the top of what was considered a gruesome Western Conference.
Their season came to a tough but commendable end at the hands of the West’s representative in the latest edition of the NBA finals, the Dallas Mavericks. The Wolves managed to steal a singular game on the road but often looked outmatched for talent over the course of the series. The pair of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving seemed to hit every important shot down the stretches of what were relatively close games (apart from a lopsided series-clinching game 5).
Why Was Towns Moved?
After being a big part of what was seen as a surprise victory over Denver in a seven-game second-round thriller, Towns noticeably struggled in the Conference Finals loss to Dallas. The seven-footer shot below forty percent from the field and thirty percent from behind the across five games. A stark contrast to his 50.4% field goal percentage and 41.6% from deep during the regular season. While Towns wasn’t the sole reason Minnesota failed to get over the hump, it was definitely hard to ignore an average of fifteen points a game on 28/17/86 splits in first three games of the series, all of which ended up in losses.
Despite this, it was still a surprise to most of the NBA world when it was announced just five days before the start of training camp that Towns had been dealt to the New York Knicks. In the deal, Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop, and a future first-round pick via Detroit were sent the other way.
On the surface, Towns getting traded by the team that drafted him with the number one overall pick back in 2015, a team and organization he had remained loyal to despite numerous tumultuous, losing seasons, seems somewhat harsh. Especially when the aftermath of the trade has revealed that he was given zero notice of the possibility that he could be moved. However, in his post-season career, Towns averages around 19 points, 10 rebounds, and less than a block through 32 playoff games. These numbers would be good for a player who isn’t on track to pick up a sixty-one-million-dollar player option in 2027, which Towns is eligible to do once the time arrives.
Despite being the centerpiece the Timberwolves planned to build around when they drafted him back in 2015, Anthony Edwards very quickly took the mantle of being the first option on the team, not to any fault of Towns, but because Edwards is just that good. If the Timberwolves are to prioritize the best years of Edwards’ career (which are shortly approaching), it would be pretty easy to understand why they would be reluctant to commit a large chunk of their salary cap to a second option who just recently came up short for them in what was a legitimate chance at an NBA finals birth.
Is Randle an Upgrade?
It would be hypocritical to frame this as a slam-dunk trade for the Wolves after focusing on Towns’ post-season struggles. Julius Randle has also found it difficult to translate his rather impressive regular-season production over the past few years into the playoffs. In his two playoff appearances (15 total games), Randle averages 17 points a game on a putrid 34% from the field and 28% from three. Much worse numbers than Towns despite the smaller sample size. However, in the calendar year of 2024, Randle is earning just over twenty million less than Towns.
There isn’t much of an argument to be made that the Wolves upgraded from a talent perspective by swapping Towns for Randle at the power forward position. In the 23/24 season, Towns had the advantage in quite a number of the relevant advanced metrics (VORP, BPM, win shares) while being the much more efficient performer (62.5 true shooting percentage to Randle’s 56.9%). For this specific Timberwolves team, the gap between both players appears to be even wider when considering the fit next to the non-spacing Gobert.
Over the course of his career, Karl Anthony Towns has established himself as one of the premier perimeter-shooting big men in the league, reaching or surpassing the 40% mark from deep in five of his nine seasons. He was also coming of his second best three-point shooting season at 41.6% on just over five attempts a game. Randle—who is a career 33.3% shooter from behind the arc—is coming off of a season where he shot a measly 31.1% from three on just about the same number of attempts as Towns.
What DiVincenzo Adds
Randle and Towns will naturally be the major focus of this trade, but the inclusion of Donte DiVincenzo should not be understated from a Minnesota point of view. After a brief and slightly underwhelming stint with the Warriors, the 27-year-old veteran guard looked to have found a role in New York as he blossomed in his lone season playing at the Mecca.
In the playoffs, where he found himself playing an enlarged role for a Knicks team that suffered a multitude of injuries to key players (including Randle), the former Villanova guard—who was averaging under five points a game for his career in the playoffs—averaged just under 18 points a game. Most importantly, across 13 post-season games, DiVincenzo shot a scorching 42.5% from three on over eight attempts a game. There is a very good chance he could bolster an already deep Minnesota bench and potentially push for a starting position if the Wolves opt to bring an aging Conley off the bench.
It remains to be seen how Randle fits on the court with Gobert, and especially Edwards, who had built a solid rapport with Towns both on and off the court. However, it is clear that this was a trade made primarily for financial reasons. Randle’s current contract has two remaining years on it, which gives the Wolves much more flexibility than they would have had they kept Towns and his supermax contract that runs all the way through 2027. The inclusion of DiVincenzo should also soften the blow of losing Towns’ elite shooting.
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