Karl-Anthony Towns has been on teams’ watch lists for a while.
Every team monitors “potentially unhappy superstars” that could be available via trade. Damian Lillard and Bradley Beal are the big names everyone knows about headlining that list now, but there are plenty of others on it. For example, Zion Williamson has earned his way onto the list entering his third season in the league.
Towns has been on that list for a while, multiple sources told NBC Sports — not because of anything the All-Star center has said or done, but because there are a lot of executives wondering when he might get fed up with the dysfunction of the Timberwolves and force a trade. Dysfunction like the firing of the team’s President of Basketball Operations, Gersson Rosas, just days before training camp, then not telling Towns what was coming.
wtf…
— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) September 22, 2021
Did this latest round of turmoil mean Towns is thinking about an exit? Not that he has heard, reports the very well connected Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic to Zach Harper and Brian Geltzeiler of NBA Radio on Sirus XM (one of the best host pairings on the network).
Could a Karl-Anthony Towns trade request be the next shoe to drop in Minnesota?
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) September 23, 2021
🔊 @JonKrawczynski tells @talkhoops & @hoopscritic why he doesn't believe that's the case right now. #RaisedByWolves pic.twitter.com/gsbqdo3JuA
Towns has not just talked about the importance of loyalty in his life, he has walked the walk. It does not appear he is looking to get out the door right now.
Plus, we really don’t know how good the Timberwolves are. Injuries, COVID, and more have made a mess of the last two Timberwolves seasons, and last season they didn’t even come close to the play-in games. But with a healthy Towns and D’Angelo Russell, plus the growth of Anthony Edwards, plus an entire season of a creative Chris Finch offense, could make this a far more interesting team. Making the play-in — and from there maybe the playoffs — is a reasonable goal.
But if things continue to go sideways with the Timberwolves... well, teams are monitoring the situation.