AbeVigodaLive wrote:Camden wrote:I'm not saying Karl-Anthony Towns won't leave or be traded, or that Minnesota is a destination that players should want to play at, but I am saying that the rumor from Darren Wolfson is silly and shouldn't have even surfaced on SKOR North. That kind of barber talk, locker room chat about hypotheticals in the far future means nothing in the present. It's the same kind of thing we do here for fun and most, if not all, of us have no real sources behind it. Maybe Wolfson wanted some clicks or just wanted to throw a discussion topic out there, but it means little to nothing to me.
Also, the optics of Towns leaving this franchise and one of his best friends behind would be pretty horrendous for his reputation -- and it's not all that great to begin with after the Jimmy Butler situation and Joel Embiid beef.
1. Maybe Towns and Russell have an understanding. After all... Russell is the same cat who left Towns hanging in a helicopter to sign with GSW. If their bond and desire to win was so strong... why did he leave his boy hanging and not just sign with MN when they didn't have to give up so many assets (and potential future success) to get him?
2. The NBA business is as much about off-the-court stuff as on-the-court stuff in 2020. It's a likely rumor... and Wolfson is likely to get his name in print by national media outlets. It's good for the Wolfson brand. Good for clicks. Good for the NBA if we're being honest.
1. Abe, no disrespect intended here, but I think you're misremembering the circumstances a year ago. D'Angelo Russell was a targeted player from the Gersson Rosas-led front office, but they had zero cap space to sign him outright. Rosas would have had to make a trade or two to sign him anyways. It just ended up happening at the trade deadline instead of before the season.
And for Russell it was about securing the bag. He jumped at the first max contract that was offered to him, which was necessary for Golden State to match salaries in the sign-and-trade involving Kevin Durant to Brooklyn.
If Minnesota would have had a max slot and could have signed him straight up, then I think we would have seen that happen. That just wasn't the situation a year ago. Golden State would have never been part of his timeline. I doubt Russell would have committed five years of his prime to play behind Steph Curry and Klay Thompson unless the financials dictated that move.
And lastly, as I've argued before, the trade that brought Russell to Minnesota was an absolute steal in that they replaced a grossly overpaid and underperforming salary cap anchor in Andrew Wiggins with a dynamic lead guard -- in a guard-oriented league right now -- with the price being one first-round pick. Most thought it would take two first-round picks just to dump Wiggins' contract without taking back anything of actual value. The Wolves ended up getting back a 24-year old former All-Star. That's highway robbery.
2. You hit that on the head and I agree with you completely. I just don't think Darren Wolfson's radio vomit should lead to any over-analyzing.
