The Phoenix Suns should not trade for Karl-Anthony Towns

Can a deep enough team to compete be built around maxed out Booker and Towns?

In the NFL, the most important – and thus expensive player – is the quarterback. So when a team drafts a “franchise” quarterback who is able to far outperform their rookie contract, it behooves them to go all in as quickly as possible and fill in a talented team around him with expensive players before the quarterback’s contract balloons up and general managers are forced to make tough decisions on balancing talent with cap space.

That is exactly how the Seattle Seahawks made the Super Bowl twice with Russell Wilson, winning it once before he got his massive contract and their team began falling apart.

If Ayton is also “generational,” then wouldn’t it benefit the Suns to save money from 2019-22 before he is up for his first max extension and use the extra cap space to add more expensive veteran players building the best team possible? This is exactly what the Timberwolves did last offseason with their acquisition of Butler, using Towns’ outperformance of his rookie contract as a means of adding a star with a larger contract to the roster.

If the Suns were to trade for Towns, he and Booker would play under their rookie contracts through this coming season before their max extensions kick in. For this single (and current) offseason, McDonough would have a window to add as much viable talent as possible to build around that core before their massive contracts begin to suck up more space.

There will be no avoiding Booker’s max deal after this season, nor should there be any attempt to avoid it. He deserves, and will receive it. Towns too would probably only accept a trade to Phoenix under the condition that his max contract is offered and signed, meaning that with those two together preparing to take up a ton of cap space, the clock would be ticking before they got paid, and the team’s cap space shrinks significantly.

On the other hand, Ayton would be growing, and hopefully becoming a Towns-type player, but at a much cheaper contract, and like a star quarterback, outperforming it. If that happens as planned and expected, then McDonough will not just have one offseason to make moves, but four  before Ayton too will earn his first max extension. (Not to mention, the opportunity to still cash in on slightly higher draft picks presuming that they aren’t winning at the clip that they might with the already established Towns.)

By the time Ayton does get his first max contract, the Suns will already be winning, McDonough will have been able to sift through all of the best available free agents and more contractually expensive trade possibilities through the 2023 offseason adding depth that the Suns have not had since the mid-1990’s, hopefully putting together more of a current Boston Celtics-type roster, and less of a current Minnesota Timberwolves’ one.

Next: The Phoenix Suns should offer the first pick for Karl-Anthony Towns

If the Minnesota Timberwolves do decide that it is their best interest to move on from Karl-Anthony Towns, then not only would it be the duty of Ryan McDonough to make the calls necessary to pull off a trade, but it would be silly of him to attempt to short-change the ‘Wolves by offering less than the necessary value to pull it off. Superstars like Towns do not become available very often and the Phoenix Suns seem to be the perfect next destination for him with his best friend Devin Booker already on the roster, and the franchise’s need for a center.

That being said, the odds of the ‘Wolves actually making Towns available and not asking for a grand slam offer if they do are slim. They know as well as we do that Towns is a franchise center, potentially a generational one that could go down in history as one of the greatest centers of all-time.

Towns doesn’t make the Suns a championship contender, and with his contract and Booker’s both being maxed out after next season, McDonough wouldn’t have much time to put together a roster with the necessary pieces to be any better than Minnesota was last season, a first round exit, and potentially with no real flexibility to add the necessary stars to put them over the top, especially when Towns get’s his first max contract.

The cost just might be far too high for the Suns to make work, if Minnesota GM Scott Layden even picks up the phone.