Anthony Edwards thinks the Minnesota Timberwolves will be better next season with a healthy Karl-Anthony Towns in the lineup. Towns only played in 29 games during the 2022-23 NBA campaign due to a serious right calf injury. The Timberwolves went 42-40 last season.
“I think if we get KAT for a whole season, we’ll be alright,” Edwards told NBA writer Sam Yip of HoopsHype.
Towns averaged 20.8 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists last season while shooting 49.5% from the field, 36.6% from beyond the arc and 87.4% from the free-throw line. The three-time NBA All-Star signed a four-year, $224.2 million designated veteran player extension with the Timberwolves in July 2022.
Minnesota hasn’t gotten past the first round of the playoffs in the Towns era, which began in 2015-16. Many people around the NBA are keeping an eye on Towns’ future with the Timberwolves in the wake of Edwards signing a five-year maximum contract extension that could be worth up to $260 million.
NBA insiders Tim MacMahon and Jamal Collier of ESPN think Towns is a player who has flown under the radar in free agency but could be a big storyline at the 2024 February trade deadline.
“There has been some discussion about Towns, but it shouldn’t be a surprise if that gets much louder as the trade deadline nears,” MacMahon wrote. “The face of the franchise for the Timberwolves has transitioned to Edwards, fresh off signing a new potential supermax extension. If Minnesota is going to make another major change, it would need to be by trading Towns.”
Added Collier: “Minnesota did not live up to expectations last season, and had Towns not missed such a significant portion of the campaign with an injury, there might already be more questions surrounding that roster.”
The Timberwolves drafted Edwards with the first overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. The Atlanta native is averaging 21.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the NBA. Edwards put up a career-high 24.6 points per game last season.
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