After nearly 10 years as the face of the franchise and helping lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Western Conference finals for the first time after 20 years, Karl-Anthony Towns was traded immediately after the season ended.
It had become clear that Minnesota was shifting towards Anthony Edwards as the new face of the franchise, but still, nobody expected this trade.
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Together with Rudy Gobert, KAT formed a Twin Towers duo in the frontcourt that even the reigning champs at the time, the Denver Nuggets, led by Nikola Jokic, couldn’t go past. Gobert recalled the trade on The Old Man and the Three podcast.
“I think it was a surprise for everyone,” Gobert said. “There were rumors, you know, the previous year, but I think coming into training camp, it was a little bit of a surprise. But you know, it’s part of the business. I was obviously sad to see him go, but I was also excited for him to be able to play in a great city, close to where he grew up. It was a mix of thoughts and emotions. I remember he came to my house the day after the trade and we hung out and had some great conversations.”
Towns led the Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals after 25 years
As it turned out, the trade worked out for both sides. Julius Randle delivered a phenomenal playoff run as the Wolves made it back to WCF for a second year in a row and Towns, along with Jalen Brunson, led the New York Knicks to their first Eastern Conference finals in 25 years.
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At the time of the deal, however, nobody understood why Minnesota traded arguably the best shooting big man in the league for a player widely considered a tier below Towns. Tim Connelly, the president of the basketball operations of the Wolves, had been praised in the media for pairing Towns and Gobert as a way to counter Jokic, only to later decide to trade Towns for relatively modest value in return. Towns himself once recalled how he found out about the trade.
“I didn’t get called, they told me,” Towns said on “The Roommates show” podcast. “Tim told me to my face that I was traded. It was gangster, I ain’t gonna lie. He came to the house. I respect it.”
Edwards and Gobert duo is leading the Timeberwolves now
And that’s really the point of the story, something Gobert summed up best by saying that, at the end of the day, it’s part of the business. The question now is whether the Timberwolves, after back-to-back Western Conference finals appearances, can finally take the next step.
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Analysts don’t rank them ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Houston Rockets and the Nuggets, but the Edwards-Gobert core almost always guarantees a fight at the top of the West. Connelly proved he could build a contender in Denver, then repeated it in Minnesota, so there is no reason to doubt his vision.
For Minnesota to become a true championship contender, Edwards needs to make that final step to solidify his status as an unstoppable superstar.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 14, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.