Most teams that come up three wins short of an NBA Finals appearance probably would try to run things back next year with the same roster.
Not the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Minnesota changed course this offseason, dealing franchise centerpiece Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks in exchange for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and a first-round pick.
It’s a move that certainly won’t push the Timberwolves closer to a title in 2024-25, but should they go all the way within the next five to seven years, it’s one that Minnesota fans should forever be thankful for.
Towns is just about to start a four-year, $220 million extension, making him a risky, risky investment considering his injury history. The 28-year-old has played in more than 65 games just once in the past five seasons, most recently missing 20 games in 2023-24.
With Anthony Edwards set to make $245 million over the next five seasons and both Rudy Gobert and reigning Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid approaching player options for the 2025-26 campaign, the Timberwolves are going to be breaking the bank. Chances are, paying Towns just wasn’t going to be worth it.
So, what should Minnesota’s next plan of attack be? Making sure Randle is in and out of the North Star State as quickly as possible.
Randle could hit free agency as soon as 2025, and that would be the best-case scenario for the Timberwolves. For a team that clearly has its sights set on collecting some hardware within the next decade, Randle isn’t going to be the piece that guides Minnesota to the promised land.
When watching Randle, you often feel like a parent of the kid on an AAU team who is constantly open but never gets the ball because the coach’s son wants to huck up 32 shots. That kid hits only eight of those, of course, while yours eventually loses his love for the game and ends up pursuing a career in accounting.
Every kid’s dream, right?
In other words, Randle ruins a lot of perfectly good possessions due to his love for iso ball. So much so that it isn’t hard to visualize him getting the ball on the elbow, hitting his defender with a jab step or two and working his way to the baseline just to throw up a fadeaway that clangs off the side of the backboard.
Randle isn’t one to rise to the occasion, either, hitting only 34.4 percent of his shots from the field and 28.3 percent of his attempts from 3-point range in 15 career playoff games. All of those came with the Knicks, who had a 7-8 record in the postseason with Randle.
Fortunately for the Timberwolves, they also were able to snag DiVincenzo, who is coming off a career year in which he knocked down 40.1 percent of his 3-point attempts. Minnesota definitely should attempt to keep him in the fold long-term.
Typically, a blockbuster trade results in a winner and a loser. One team lands a big star, the other gets role players and draft compensation as it loads up for a rebuild.
No one really got the short end of the stick here, though. The Knicks are just in better position to win now, and they better within the next three years or so to be considered a success story, while the Timberwolves took one step back to hopefully take two steps forward in the near future.
This won’t be the banner year that Minnesota fans have been waiting for so patiently. Getting back to the Western Conference finals might even be out of the question, and watching Randle hoop probably won’t be easy to stomach most nights.
But the Timberwolves have set themselves up nicely for the future. As long as Randle isn’t in it.
