As everyone is very well aware of by now, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded beloved four-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks in exchange for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a future pick. The sudden news, which was first broken by Shams Charania on Friday night, rocked the basketball world and NBA landscape as two contenders will soon come into training camp with vastly different rosters from last season.

On the Minnesota Timberwolves’ side of things, this trade accomplishes two things. One, it offloads Towns’ supermax contract in which he was owed an average of $55 million-plus over the next 4 years, a gigantic number for a shaky secondary creator. The contract would’ve majorly limited their financial flexibility — now, they’ve swapped it for Randle’s expiring contract.

Two, and maybe most indicative of where the Timberwolves plan to go with this move, is that the trade is a bet on all of their young talent. That includes Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, whom they can now resign without apron complications, along withJaden McDaniels, Leonard Miller, and Rob Dillingham.

The Timberwolves recognized their ceiling of a Western Conference Finals appearance with Towns as their secondary star, who proved to be an unreliable scorer while also being an average defender. Add to that a massive contract that would’ve limited their flexibility in Edwards’ prime seasons, and it was clear that he had to be moved. Getting two valuable players and a pick in return for him was the deciding factor that made them pull the trigger.

Now, they pivot towards their young talent in hopes of maximizing their development and having them peak at the same time as Edwards. This includes rookie Rob Dillingham, who will have massive shoes to fill in the future as Minnesota’s secondary offensive star next to Edwards.

For now, he likely won’t have many responsibilities this season as guards rarely contribute in their first year. But from his second season and onwards, the pressure will be on as the sooner he ascends, the larger Minnesota’s title window becomes.

Dillingham has extremely tantalizing ball-handling and shotmaking abilities that made him one of the hottest commodities on draft night, and led to the Timberwolves trading an unprotected 2031 first and an unprotected 2030 pick swap for him. If he reaches his ceiling on the offensive end, he could be one of the only All-Stars to emerge from the 2024 draft.

The Timberwolves certainly hope that’ll happen, if not in the past for the two picks they traded, now because they traded their longtime star to bet on their future.

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