This offseason, the Minnesota Timberwolves gave up pretty much everything they had in order to acquire star center Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz. In Utah, Gobert was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, a three-time All-Star, and a four-time All-NBA player, but never had much playoff success with his team.
Minnesota experienced the same thing with their star, Karl-Anthony Towns. In 2015, Minnesota drafted Towns first overall, hoping that his talents would lead them to a championship. Since then, Towns has been a three-time All-Star and a two-time All-NBA player, but the team has only made two unsuccessful playoff appearances. Now, Minnesota adds Gobert with the hope of maximizing Towns’ talents.
The Timberwolves are challenging norms with their two center lineup.
Combining two big men is not unheard of in today’s league. Boston plays Al Horford and Robert Williams III together. Cleveland lets Evan Mobley and Jarret Allen share the court. The majority of the league, however, would rather one center and surround him with smaller wings. There have been mixed results in past pairings of two bigs.
These combinations usually do not work when the two players share overlapping skillsets. That is not the case in Minnesota since Towns and Gobert could not be more different as players.