If Karl-Anthony Towns really is that unhappy in Minnesota, the Phoenix Suns have some decent assets they could be willing to trade. Let’s go through them.
I have half-way joked about Karl-Anthony Towns auditioning for his future team every time he plays the Phoenix Suns. Now, it is slightly more than a half-joke.
When news broke about the Golden State Warriors monitoring the situation (whatever that means) in Minnesota surrounding a reportedly unhappy Karl-Anthony Towns, the first thing I thought was, “The Phoenix Suns could put together a way better offer than they could.”
But what is that offer?
First and foremost, the deal would most certainly require the inclusion of Deandre Ayton. He’s still on his rookie contract for three more years, so the value there is extremely strong. While Ayton hasn’t exactly been (earmuffs, kids!) Luka Doncic, he certainly hasn’t been a bust either, and on the surface, swapping those two makes sense.
They are both big men who can shoot (albeit Towns with significantly more range), and they were both the number one overall picks of their respective draft classes.
But the Wolves and NBA trade machines are going to require more, both in return value and overall salary, to make this deal work.
For precedent, look at the recent trade that sent another disgruntled prominent Kentucky superstar out west when the Lakers gave up a wealth of assets to get Anthony Davis. It included Lonzo Ball (#2 overall pick), Brandon Ingram (#2 overall pick), Josh Hart (#30 overall pick) and three future first round picks.
Generational superstar or not, that is a haul.
To be fair, the Pelicans had all the leverage in this deal and Towns isn’t quite on the Brow’s tier, but if this trade were to happen, it will not come cheap.
There are two distinct ways the Suns could look at this: either they include Tyler Johnson‘s expiring, crappy contract or they don’t. If they do, they’d likely have to fork over a truck load of draft picks too.
They might have to do that anyway.
More than likely, though, the Wolves probably don’t even want that contract for the sake of making a trade work, and ideally the Suns could save Tyler Johnson’s expiring deal for another trade that would bring in another veteran (perhaps a point guard).
In terms of picks, the Suns gave up their 2020 and 2021 second round selections, but have all their first rounders from here until eternity.
Here are X trades they could offer today and the Wolves might be willing nibble upon.