John Collins’ camp considers playing alongside Karl Anthony-Towns as ‘favorable’

Prior to the start of the 2020-21 NBA campaign, the Atlanta Hawks made a generous contract extension offer to talented big man John Collins. However, Collins never ultimately signed his name on the dotted line.

According to Adam Wells of Bleacher Report (originally via Brian Windhorst on The Hoop Collective Podcast), the Hawks were willing to give Collins a deal worth over $90 million. Despite their efforts, though, the power forward made clear his desire for a max contract.

As a result, Collins is in line to be a part of this summer’s restricted free agency class. While that is the case, rumors have surfaced that Collins is being eyed by other teams as of now.

Per Lee Tran of Fadeaway World, the Minnesota Timberwolves are reportedly interested in Collins’ services. Nabbing a player of Collins’ caliber would certainly give Minnesota a much different look in the frontcourt.

The Timberwolves already possess elite center and two-time All-Star Karl Anthony-Towns. That being said, adding another player capable of averaging 20 points and 10 boards a night would make the Western Conference even deeper.

Granted the Timberwolves are linked with Collins, it is evidently also true that Collins’ camp is intrigued by the idea of playing alongside KAT. The rumor was originally put out there by Darren Wolfson on his podcast (per transcription from Tran).

“I will say though, from some correspondence with somebody closed to Collins, that that camp views this situation, the idea of Collins playing next to KAT as favorable.

Here, he’d have the chance to play with a dynamic big man like KAT, somebody with KAT’s skillset, that’s very enticing for Collins.”

If the Timberwolves can make this happen, it would finally enable the team to start developing a winning culture once again. The squad has not made a playoff appearance since the 2017-18 season, when they achieved 47-35 record to snag the West’s No. 8 seed.

On the other hand, things have not fared well whatsoever for the Northwest Division team this time around. As of when this was written, Minnesota currently occupies a paltry 7-29 record thus far, good for dead last in the NBA.

Because they are a cellar dweller, it is safe to assume the Wolves would deem a possible KAT-Collins pairing every bit as “favorable.” Collins brings a lot of versatility to the table as he’s shown with the Hawks, and playing alongside Karl Anthony-Towns would give their roster a major boost down low.

It is worth noting Collins’ numbers are a little bit down by comparison to the ones he put up in 2019-20. Nevertheless, John the Baptist is still averaging a respectable 18.0 points per contest on 53.6 shooting from the field. Furthermore, he is accumulating 7.6 rebounds to go along with one block on a nightly basis.

Although no prospective trade packages have been made public, John Collins should definitely draw ample interest in the time to come.

James Francuz

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