Why Minnesota Timberwolves Do This Trade

The Minnesota Timberwolves acquired D’Angelo Russell in part because the team was trying to make superstar center Karl-Anthony Towns happy. He is good friends with Russell and he wanted to play with his friend. Trading him away could signal that more changes are on the horizon.

Minnesota has an excellent building block in Anthony Edwards, the first overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. The organization could decide to build the roster up around him and this deal is the first in many to reshape the roster.

If the team does hold onto Towns, he and Kristaps Porzingis would make for quite a dynamic pairing offensively. Towns is one of the most gifted big men offensively, so he can play alongside any power forward. Porzingis is improving as a post player, but he is a true difference-maker on the perimeter.

Porzingis has also made it known that he prefers playing power forward instead of center. Having Towns and a legitimate backup center in Naz Reid would allow the Unicorn to play power forward almost exclusively.

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While the offense would be a lot of fun to stop, that pairing would cause opponents to salivate when it came to playing defense. Porzingis or Towns are regarded as strong defenders, so Chris Finch would have his hands full scheming the team’s defense.

But, acquiring a former All-Star that is looking for a change of scenery could have his game take off once again playing out from under the microscope with the Timberwolves.