Three theories as to why the Phoenix Suns are not mentioned with Karl-Anthony Towns

Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker Phoenix Suns (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)

The Minnesota Timberwolves Angle

The Minnesota Timberwolves might be ready to listen to or take offers for Towns considering their continued inability to break through to the top-eight in the Western Conference, and their probable inability to land a star to play next to Towns.

Certainly, nobody has ever theorized that they could acquire Booker to play in Minnesota, and the prevailing presumption is that they would have to ship players away rather than bring them in.

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As the Suns have at least not publicly been linked to the acquisition of Towns, the Timberwolves might actually be looking to either bring Phoenix to the table for trade discussions, or even if there is interest for Towns elsewhere, at least create a bidding war.

James Jones said recently that he is looking to improve the roster internally rather than externally, and was thus not all that enthused about acquiring a bigger piece, rather wanting to let the core develop and specifically see what he has in Deandre Ayton.

Unfortunately too, Ayton has only appeared in two games this season with his suspension and now lingering ankle injury holding him out of 31 games and counting.

Minnesota, on the other hand, is mired in another awful year, and at 11-20 on December 30, is not only nowhere near the playoff picture, once again, but at a worse pace than last season through 31 games, in which they finished 11th in the West and appeared to be ready to take that next step.

They could be more than ready to attempt to blow up the team and might not want to wait for James Jones to get a more full picture of his own roster, and instead leaked the Golden State rumor to push Jones into being more willing to make an outside improvement sooner, rather than later.