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Writer's pictureBrent Petermeier

Karl-Anthony Towns and the Mystery Man

December 7th, 2021



Recent History

For years, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been searching for a big man to pair with Karl-Anthony Towns. Both to compliment him and to mask his deficiencies. The Wolves have tried many different players to try to find an answer. Nikola Pekovic, Gorgui Dieng, Thaddeus Young, Dario Saric, Taj Gibson, Robert Covington (just to name a few) were all brought in to try solve the mystery. Minnesota even brought in the best player in the history of the franchise and Hall of Fame player Kevin Garnett to help mold Towns. The Timberwolves spent early first round picks on guys like Anthony Bennett and Justin Patton, neither of whom panned out in the league. It is a question that has never seemed to be answered since Towns was drafted in 2015.


Seeking a Fit

It seems as though Myles Turner has been on the trade block for the past 3 seasons. But, it has now become public knowledge with Shams Charania tweeting out that Indiana is going full rebuild mode and listening to offers for Caris Levert, Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis. Let's take a look at what a potential deal for Myles Turner might look like.



Roster Outlook

Before we take a look at what a potential deal looks like for Myles Turner, let’s review the Timberwolves roster. First we will take a look at the Wolves expiring deals. Current deals set to expire at the end of the 2021-2022 season include: Josh Okogie, Taurean Prince, Jake Layman and Patrick Beverly. Beverly recently started talking with the Timberwolves about a possible extension but that can be a topic to entertain in another article. Following the 2022 departures, in 2022-2023 here are players that potentially could be finding work elsewhere: D’Angelo Russell, Jaylen Nowell and Naz Reid. In 2023-2024 guys like Karl-Anthony Towns, Malik Beasley, Anthony Edwards, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaden McDaniels and Jordan McLaughlin will all be seeking new deals. Finally, in 2024-2025 is when Leandro Bolmaro will be due for a new contract.


Looking at when deals expire, that 2023-2024 season seems to be the most critical time to have cap flexibility when all of our mainstays are due to be extended. The Timberwolves also have over $29 million dollars in cap holds due to previous contracts to Evan Turner and Aaron Brooks. A cap hold represents "placeholders" for pending free agents, unsigned draft picks, offer sheets, etc... Since the Timberwolves are currently over the league salary cap, these cap holds do not count against their Total Cap figure. Renouncing these cap holds will NOT afford the team any new cap space. These figures are not counted toward a team's Luxury Tax Allocation.


The Wolves currently have a salary cap number of $165, 361, 475 million of an allotted $112, 414,000 million. Which means we are $52, 947, 475 over the allotted cap number.


So, let’s make a deal!


Potential Deals


Deal #1- Myles Turner for Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, Taurean Prince, 2nd round pick in 2022 and 1st roud pick in 2023.


Myles Turner is currently making $18 million and his deal is set to expire at the end of the 2022-2023 season. Due to trade restrictions the Timberwolves are not able to trade Jarred Vanderbilt or Jordan McLaughlin until December 15th.


With the Pacers going into rebuild mode, they will likely want back a piece(s) for the future along with draft capital. So, you can bet we aren’t going to deal the likes of Naz Reid, Jake Layman and picks alone for Turner. We need to make sure that contracts match to be able to make a deal for the size of Turner's contract.

After taking a look at current contracts for the Timberwolves, let’s start the discussion with putting Taurean Prince and his $13, 000, 000 million dollar deal and his contract expires at the end of the season. Now, we need to find around $5, 000, 000 along with a piece they want to build with. To get to that magic number of 5 million, let’s put in Naz Reid. Reid can fill a potential bench role for the Pacers and be a short term replacement for Turner. Reid has 1 year left on his deal so Indiana can decide what they have in him.


So, to review, currently we are trading Taurean Prince, Naz Reid for Myles Turner. That is not the most entertaining trade the Pacers can make nor the youth they are looking for. So, to get the Pacers to entertain something like this the Timberwolves will need to attach some sort of youth and draft picks to make it worth the Pacers even entertaining.


This is where it gets a bit interesting. What young player would entice the Pacers to make a deal with the Timberwolves? I can tell you one thing with 100% certainty, Anthony Edwards will not be going anywhere. That leads us to Josh Okogie, Leandro Bolmaro, Jaden McDaniels and Jaylen Nowell. I am almost positive that Leandro Bolmaro is here for the foreseeable future so that takes him out of the equation. I don’t think that Okogie moves the needle either. So, we are down to Nowell and McDaniels. In this deal let’s put Jaden McDaniels. Jaden has proven to be a potential All-Defensive team candidate and has shown flashes of being a spot up 3 point shooter.


Deal #2- Myles Turner for Jaden McDaniels, Jaylen Nowell, Taurean Prince, 2nd round pick in 2022, 2nd round pick in 2023 and 1st round pick in 2023.


In this deal the Pacers turn to guard help in Jaylen Nowell. Taurean Prince will be a part of the deal no matter what and his deal expires at the end of the season so the Pacers are not tied to him long term. The Wolves value Beverly too much to include him in any deal. McDaniels and Nowell together get the Timberwolves close to that magic number of $5 million and the Pacers are receiving an extra pick in the 2nd round of 2023 to sweeten the pot. Nowell has one year left after this year so the Pacers will be able to get a first hand look at what they potentially have in him. Plus, while TJ McConnell is sidelined he can fill a need at the backup PG spot.

In the end I believe that the Pacers value Naz Reid over Jaylen Nowell.


But, I will let you be the judge! Would you take deal #1 or deal #2?










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