2021 NBA Trade deadline: Bradley Beal and four players who need rescuing

NBA trade deadline rescue candidate No. 5: Karl-Anthony Towns

The Minnesota Timberwolves have tried and failed time and time again to build around Karl-Anthony Towns. The seven-foot New Jersey native has one post-season appearance to his name in his five years in the league (all with Minnesota). Since being drafted first overall in the 2015 NBA Draft, Towns has played for four different general managers and is currently playing for his fourth different head coach (third head coach in three years). This lack of consistency and direction coupled with the inability to build around Towns is exactly why he needs to get out of there while still in his prime.

In the lone season Jimmy Butler played with the franchise, they looked like they were taking steps in the right direction, but that team unraveled fairly quickly, and we all know how that turned out. Yes, the T’wolves traded for D’Angelo Russell last season to make him happy, but due to various injuries to both parties, the two have played a total of five games together. And let’s face it, Russell is not a second option on a title contender.

Since the 2016-17 season, Towns is averaging 23.9 points, 12 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.4 blocks per game with proficient shooting splits of .530/.399/.837. He’s a generational talent and a Swiss army knife on offense with his ability to post-up, face-up, shoot from long-range (shot at least 40 percent in three of the last four seasons), and pass.

Since drafting KAT, Minnesota is an abysmal 172-262 in the regular season. Even worse, since the franchise was founded in 1989, the Timberwolves have finished with at least a .500 record just nine times, and only once since losing in the franchise’s lone appearance in the conference finals in 2004.

Publicly Towns says he wants to play his entire career with the Timberwolves, but Anthony Davis used to say the same thing before eventually requesting a trade from the New Orleans Pelicans. Locked in through the 2023-24 season, hopefully, KAT wises up and requests a trade sooner than later before wasting his prime years with a franchise that can’t seem to get much right outside of drafting him.