The Minnesota Timberwolves, on the heels of one of their best seasons in franchise history, took on a massive risk with their recent trade of Karl-Anthony Towns.

But if they play their cards right, they could reap the rewards for years to come.

It might be debatable if Minnesota is better right now after sending out Towns—its No. 2 scorer and rebounder last season—for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a protected first-round pick, but immediate improvement wasn’t necessarily the franchise’s focus.

The Wolves have a 23-year-old superstar on their hands in Anthony Edwards, and they correctly concluded that nothing matters more to them than his ongoing development.

“The Wolves made the deal to maximize Edwards’ window for the long haul,” The Athletic’s Jon Krawczysnki reported. “The Wolves wanted to make sure Edwards could be on a competitive playoff team for much longer than just the next two years and believe the flexibility this move provides will aid that pursuit.”

Teams don’t always operate with this kind of foresight following a trek to the conference finals (just the second ever for this organization, by the way). That level of success can narrow the big-picture focus down to the here and now, and had the Timberwolves operated in that manner, it would’ve been hard to blame them.

Running things back with effectively the same bunch would’ve kept this group in the championship hunt. It’s what could’ve come next, though, that motivated the front office to move.

Mike Conley is fast approaching his 37th birthday. Rudy Gobert, who turned 32 this offseason, has one guaranteed season left on his deal with a player option for 2025-26. Reigning Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid could also reach free agency next summer. Finding the funds to pay these players could’ve been tricky with the massive amounts of money owed to Edwards, Towns and Jaden McDaniels.

Minnesota’s options on the trade front were limited, too. The Timberwolves forked over a mountain of assets in the 2022 trade to get Gobert, so they hardly had anything left to facilitate further changes.

Their hands were tied. Again, you could argue their present outlook was bright enough to justify that, but their future didn’t carry the kind of limitless possibilities you might expect from a squad with a 23-year-old centerpiece.

Minnesota comes out of this deal with some maneuverability. Towns’ colossal contract was shipped out for Randle’s cheaper (and possibly expiring, as he holds a 2025-26 player option) pact. Keeping Reid, a 25-year-old who has emerged as one of the Association’s better shooting bigs, becomes much more conceivable now.

If the Wolves discover they are still deficient somewhere, they have that first-round pick (which comes from the Detroit Pistons and has declining protections) to shop around. If Randle proves a less than ideal fit, they could consider moving him for additional assets.

Minnesota still ranks among the Western Conference heavyweights, only now it has multiple avenues to consider going forward. The Wolves could still be on a championship path, but they aren’t locked into one roster, one style of play or the one or two year window its core could’ve had.

The Wolves have a real chance to tailor everything they do around Edwards. In just the past calendar year, he made his All-NBA debut, upped his production (by volume and efficiency) during the longest playoff trip of his career and collected an Olympic gold medal as the youngest player on Team USA. He is a mega-star already, and he might be nowhere near his best.

Minnesota was smart for seeking optionality with his future. If the Wolves check the right boxes around him, there is a potential path to contending for the next half-decade or longer. That would have been tricky to accomplish without the trade.

“I think you have to, as much as possible, build teams that can stay together for multiple years,” team president Tim Connelly told reporters. “Because I think there will be a lot of turnover just because of the finances becoming rapidly so big for some of these teams.”