Timberwolves coming to terms with Towns' departure as stunning trade alters training camp vibe
Anthony Edwards was on an airplane when the Minnesota Timberwolves hit send on the stunner of a deal with the New York Knicks to trade four-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, a still-pending agreement that will bring Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to an ambitious team aiming to top its trip to the Western Conference finals last spring.
Once his flight landed, Edwards had some big feelings to deal with.
Edwards, the All- NBA second team selection and Olympic gold medalist for Team USA who only recently turned 23, became the clear go-to guy for the Timberwolves last season while Towns — a franchise cornerstone since being drafted first overall in 2015 — willingly ceded the alpha role after just as deftly sliding to the power forward spot to accommodate the arrival of center Rudy Gobert.
In the eyes of Edwards, though, they were still co-stars, not to mention close friends.
"I think everybody knows KAT's my brother, so that definitely hurt," Edwards said on Monday, three days after the trade news broke and the day before the Timberwolves begin training camp. "But you know it's a business, so I've just got to roll with it."
Edwards and Towns messaged each other throughout that night, reflecting on their shared experience on and off the court since Edwards arrived during the pandemic as the first overall pick in the 2020 draft. Towns even sent Edwards around 3 a.m. a picture of Towns in the gym.
"I feel like it's kind of weird to talk about it because he just got traded. That's my dog, man. It wasn't like a '1' or '2' situation. We both was the '1.' We just played off of each other," Edwards said.
Now Edwards and his fellow 2020 draft class member Jaden McDaniels are behind only Naz Reid, who came the year before, in tenure on the team.
"It's a big surprise. Not something anyone expected two days before training camp. So still processing it," Gobert said. "Obviously KAT is someone that I have a lot of love and respect for. We had two years together, and I'm really grateful for the time that we spent together. Since day one, he embraced me. He did anything he could to help me be the best version of myself on and off the court. So I'm really grateful for that."
With the trade still being finalized, neither president of basketball operations Tim Connelly or head coach Chris Finch could speak about the biggest storyline surrounding their team when they took questions from reporters at media day on Monday. Players were under no such restriction, obviously, so they spoke freely about the conflicting emotions that came from the news of the weekend.
The Timberwolves stressed from the front office to the locker room last season how vital continuity and patience was in their success, having boldly acquired Gobert and stuck with the unorthodox pairing in the lineup with him and Towns after the adjustment period for Gobert and injury trouble for Towns contributed to a lackluster first edition. Trading Towns now is clearly a risk to team chemistry, as well as outside shooting and overall offensive production.
"We have all the trust in the world in Tim and what he's been able to do for this team in a short period of time and where we've been able to get to," point guard Mike Conley said. "From my understanding, they handled it better than probably any organization has ever handled trading anybody – super professional in the way they work their business.
"Obviously, it's tough when you're building something and you have a season like we had last year. We kind of broke through the door to a point that we're right there. We can just change a couple little things and maybe we'll have a chance to get back there again. So it leaves a void there: 'Like, OK, how are we going to switch the games up a little bit? Do we change the way we play a little bit or what will manifest?' But I'm super confident in the guys we got back, obviously, and Tim and coach Finch and the game plans we're going to put together to be back where we're at next year."
Edwards had another busy summer, playing among the best in the world with his U.S. teammates in Paris. He studied LeBron James and Steph Curry to pick up practice and preparation habits from the greats. He worked on his catch-and-shoot 3-pointer on the court, hit the weights hard to turn some fat into muscle and said the Olympic experience helped him show up for preseason training in the best shape he's ever been in.
Connelly said he believes Edwards can be "one of the greatest players ever." Edwards was not about to argue.
"The only way is to just work and go out on the court. I believe that," he said. "I think a lot of guys have got a chance to be really great at this game, but maybe they just don't believe it. Some guys put the work in, and don't believe it. Some guys believe it, and don't put the work in. So I believe it, and I put the work in."