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Jazz Future Pick Watch: Minnesota Timberwolves are nearing a trade to send Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo

Douchebag K said:
I really don’t get this at all. Other than the Knicks getting off Randle
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KAT was overpaid and would make the team extremely expensive.

He also has a tendency to choke and make really bad plays when it matters.

Naz Reid can provide a lot of what Towns does at a fraction of the price.

Donte D is on one of the best contracts in the NBA. Go look at his year last year, it was actually an elite season and suggest he might be ready to take on a bigger role. Shot 40% from 3 on extremely high volume and had a 3.4 BPM. I could see it being a fluke season, but if it's not, he might be more important than KAT was to the Wolves last year.

The Pistons pick will likely be a nice first round pick in 2026 or 2027. I dont think they will finish in the bottom 9 for 3 more years in a row, so it will convey.

Randle might only be a one year rental, but he is very talented and actually is a more willing 3pt shooter than KAT. With the Conley getting older, they might be betting on Randle's playmaking being big on the Wolves to help out Ant.
 
TheStormofWar said:
I think KAT compliments their roster pretty well from a positional, size, and scoring standpoint. Much will depend on how they view him along side Robinson. I think Minnesota may have gotten a bit better, depending on Randle's health and if they can re-sign him. Otherwise, this might have been basically a salary dump.
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On paper KAT does, and often did. But he also passed up way too many 3's and has the craziest brainfarts in the NBA.
 
Damn when I look at the year Donte D had last year, I think this might make Wolves an elite contender if he can put that on repeat. Kind of hard to call it a fluke when he raised his game in the playoffs.
 
HermanG said:
Also adding some fun factor to the discussion.

Is this the cringiest trade in NBA history?

KAT and Randle are both pretty painful to watch at times. With KAT its more about his body language (Knick fans gonna love that lol) and with Randle its more about him going into bullet time when he gets the ball.
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Randle doesnt get enough credit for improving the last few years.
 
Agree/Disagree with the trade, no one in the NBA has bigger cajones than Tim Connelly. The Gobert trade, the trade for Dillingham, and now the KAT trade. The dude is willing to swing.
 
KAT has the "it" factor. Plus he could stretch the floor.

Donte can stretch the floor too but he is no more than a starter in the league.

Randle has always felt like empty calories to me. Maybe I just don't watch him enough.
 
The wolves got more balanced, that's for sure. Better? They didn't walk away with the best players that's for sure.

Still their management has been pulling a lot of the right strings as of late.
 
Conley/Dillingham
Edwards/ Donte/ Shannon Jr
McDaniels/NAW/ Ingles
Randle/Miller
Gobert/ Reid

I would think that's their core rotation. Maybe Dashien Nix or Luka Garza develops in a back-end rotation piece? Specifically Garza has been someone I've always been highly intrigued by. Such a dominant G-League player and he has the archetype that would fit in well as a 10th man in a rotation for a team that needs some firepower.

I know a lot of people here loved Leonard Miller. If he can step-up, that would be huge for the Wolves. Randle might miss the start of the year, so they would probably shift McDaniels down to the starting 4 and start Donte D at the 3. That would likely put Miller in a prominent backup role early.

Feels like the Wolves are prepping for a younger retooling of the roster entering Edwards prime. Will be interesting to see if they can extend Gobert, or if they decide to move on from him. I think it's kind of a masterful move on Connelly's part to make the roster affordable, which is a must given their weird ownership situation (has that even been resolved yet)? If Dillingham/Miller/TSJ arent ready yet, I can see depth being an issue, especially in the regular season. I like the Ingles addition, but he looked cooked last year. Maybe Gobert gives him new life with their PNR chemistry.

The loss of KAT hurts their ultimate ceiling IMO, but he was also unreasonably bad in the Mavericks series when he should have been dominant and was the reason they lost in 5.

Their x-factor is McDaniels actually developing into a decent offensive player. He has shown flashes, but has ultimately been a pretty bad offensive player who lacks consistency.

Overall I think it's a W for the Jazz picks just because it's adds more uncertainty, but Connelly is a GM wizard and if anyone can pull off sustained success with trades, it's him. Im hoping for the losses this year, but the Wolves are yet again one of the most interesting teams to watch in 2025.
 
The Jazz Wonderbra said:
Money wise it's a no Brainer. I would hate to have KAT on the books at $50 million, ascending to $61 million for 4 years.

I don't see KAT as the second best player on a championship team.
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That's the crux of it. They couldnt afford the roster they had and changes had to be made at some point. Hard to argue they could have done much better given the situation they were in. Usually better to make the move early before you have to and the league knows they have you bent over a barrel.
 
The Jazz Wonderbra said:
Donte can stretch the floor too but he is no more than a starter in the league.
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I'm not saying you're wrong, but the year Donte had last year suggest there is potentially more there. Not saying All-Star, but possibly could develop into that level of player who is between a starter and all-star.
 
Crazy high stakes trade. I'll need some time to digest this one, but given that money is nothing for NYK and is for MIN...I think both franchises are better off right now. TWolves probably took a hit in the short term, but have a lot of flexibility and options going forward. Conley and Gobert still might be good next year, but they can't keep it up forever. If MIN wasn't willing to be a repeater tax team, this is a pretty good haul.
 
KqWIN said:
Crazy high stakes trade. I'll need some time to digest this one, but given that money is nothing for NYK and is for MIN...I think both franchises are better off right now. TWolves probably took a hit in the short term, but have a lot of flexibility and options going forward. Conley and Gobert still might be good next year, but they can't keep it up forever. If MIN wasn't willing to be a repeater tax team, this is a pretty good haul.
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They faced reality and dealt with it ahead of time. Tough pill to swallow because the trade overall probably makes a ring in 2025 less likely, but overall I think it was probably a wise choice.
 
Randle will have months were he is shooting 36%+ on crazy volume from 3 then months where he shoots like 30%. Peak Randle might look better than KAT for the Wolves, but the on/off nature of his shot could bury the Wolves in a key series.

But then again, that's what happened with KAT in the Dallas series.
 
First reaction I kind of hate it for the Wolves (like it for us), but Donte will help and if Randle stays healthy and plays aggressive that could still work fine for Minny. I guess time will tell, but for now I think it's bad for MIN.

For NYK though I really like it. That starting line-up looking really good
 
dipship31 said:
First reaction I kind of hate it for the Wolves (like it for us), but Donte will help and if Randle stays healthy and plays aggressive that could still work fine for Minny. I guess time will tell, but for now I think it's bad for MIN.

For NYK though I really like it. That starting line-up looking really good
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Do we think they will actually keep Randle? I bet he gets traded again at the deadline, or he leaves after a year. They can't really afford him long-term.
 
I wonder if they can flip Randle to the Wizards for Kuzma. Wizards get off Kuzma's money and the Wolves get an offensive player?

But that's pretty risky too because who knowns how good Kuzma actually is on a legit team.
 
Saint Cy of JFC said:
I wonder if they can flip Randle to the Wizards for Kuzma. Wizards get off Kuzma's money and the Wolves get an offensive player?

But that's pretty risky too because who knowns how good Kuzma actually is on a legit team.
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He was fine in LA as a solid mid rotation guy, I'd probably like that more for the Wolves.
 
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