Reported growing disfunction between players and front office with the Minnesota Timberwolves is giving NBA insiders reason to believe something big is going to happen with the team before the start of next season.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Brian Windhorst started the mess last month by saying they wouldn’t be shocked if Karl-Anthony Towns gets traded, suggesting that he’s not seeing eye-to-eye with the front office.
The flames were then fanned over the weekend with a report from Sporting News that said Jimmy Butler is “uncertain” if he wants to play with Andrew Wiggins.
All the drama leads to one question: can the stars of the Wolves roster stay together long term?
“No, it’s fractured,” ESPN’s Jalen Rose said Monday. “I would be shocked if Karl-Anthony Towns and Wiggins both show up in Minnesota Timberwolves training camp this year.”
Rose thinks the Sporting News report was leaked by the Wolves on purpose, saying “it’s basically letting the league know” that Wiggins could be had in a trade.
“If I’m Minnesota, I don’t trade Karl-Anthony Towns,” Rose continued. “I think he’s a 20-10-2 guy that represents the new era of basketball in the game, that can still shoot the 3, that can still make the play off the bounce. I don’t move him.”
Trent Tucker, the former NBA sharpshooter and current part-time KFAN co-host, doesn’t think Wiggins is the problem.
“Andrew Wiggins is not their problem,” he said Saturday on KFAN’s In The Zone. “They just weren’t good enough as a team. They need to add 3-point shooting, they need to add a few things here and there.”
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As for the Sporting News report that said Butler doesn’t want to play with Wiggins, Tucker thinks that has more to do with Butler’s long-term future in Minnesota than it does Wiggins’.
“He doesn’t want to be here if that’s true. If this story is true and those words are put out there, it’s not about Andrew Wiggins, it’s about the organization,” Tucker said. “You can use Andrew Wiggins as a scapegoat, as a reason to try to convince us why you’re thinking about looking to move on to somewhere else, but, nah.”
No matter where you look there’s drama with the Wolves. But fans may not have to wait long to see what’s in store for the future. The NBA Draft is Thursday night – the Wolves pick 20th – and it’s a night when big trades are often made.
