Bad News For Anyone Who Thought Karl-Anthony Towns May Be The Next Star On The Move

We now live in a world where star players are on the move. This is the player empowerment era and it doesn’t matter if you’re on an expiring deal, have two years left, hell even three or four, you never know what star player is going to decide he’s had enough of his small market or struggling team and demand he wants out. We saw it a bunch of times this summer and naturally the next step is to look into the future and try and predict what star player is going to be next that might be worth taking a gamble on if they demand a trade. You hear about Bradley Beal who may or may not sign his 3/111M extension that the Wizards can offer him on Friday, and another name you hear from time to time is KAT. Maybe this is because MIN is a small market team who plays in a loaded conference and has 1 playoff appearance in like 16 years. But given KAT’s recent comments, you may be able to cross him off the list…for now

The biggest thing when you have that conversation [about a star switching teams] is you say, ‘Is he happy here?’” Towns said. “I’m tremendously happy. I love my front office. I love my coaching staff. I think we’ve made great moves and great changes. I love the culture we have here. If you want to leave, you have to be miserable somewhere. I am not there. I’m planning to be in Minnesota for a long time

Obviously, what do you expect him to say. He’s the face of that franchise and there’s one main reason why KAT shouldn’t be unhappy. Allow me to show you

You see this season is the first year his 25% max kicks in. He’s “set” to hit free agency right in the middle of his prime, so why wouldn’t KAT be happy. The naive part of me wants to believe KAT when he says he plans to be in Minnesota for a long time. He’s basically the KG of this era for a younger generation and is an elite All NBA caliber type talent. The cynic in me says, talk to me in 2021-22 if MIN misses the playoffs from now until then. Will his mindset change as he enters his prime and is still not even close to on a contender? It’s not as if MIN is some hotspot for free agents either, and he’s sort of tied to Andrew Wiggins and we all know how that’s going.

Take a look at the Paul George situation. He signed his 4 year extension, talked about how happy he was and how OKC made him feel at home and then boom. One down year of another first round exit and he found his way out of town to join a power in the West. That’s why this all sounds nice on the surface, but so much can change even in a year I don’t know how as a Timberwolves fan you could feel comfortable. To his credit, KAT has never, ever, shown any level of frustration or that he might want out, so maybe he really does want to save small markets and be the Giannis of the West Coast in terms of him not caring where he plays as long as the team continues to build. The only problem is the Bucks have been way better at it so far and play in a much easier conference.

There’s no doubt that in the event KAT ever did hit the market, he’s going to get a Kawhi-like return from someone. Players of his caliber at his age don’t hit the market all that often so while MIN may think they don’t have to worry about that right this second, given how the NBA works nowadays the clock is already ticking. Everyone is hopeful in July, it’s another story when the reality sets in and this team is like a 10th or 11th seed in the West. It killed KG to ultimately accept a trade out of MIN, but even he admitted that he should have asked out sooner. He had this quote that I feel like is relevant when it comes to KAT

Loyalty is something that hurts you at times because you can’t get youth back

So with that in mind, do you buy what KAT is selling. Do you think he finishes this current extension in a Timberwolves uniform? I’m leaning towards no.