The Minnesota Timberwolves made the decision to part ways with President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas on Wednesday in a move that sent shockwaves around the NBA.
The move was surprising for everyone including Karl-Anthony Towns, who summed up his reaction in three letters: “WTF.”
wtf…
— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) September 22, 2021
Towns’ reaction isn’t a surprise considering Rosas put his fingerprints all over the Wolves’ most recent rebuild. Rosas made bold moves throughout his two seasons in Minnesota including trading for D’Angelo Russell and firing Ryan Saunders last January.
There was a chance more were on the way as the Timberwolves were rumored to be in hot pursuit of disgruntled 76ers star Ben Simmons.
But during an interview with KFAN’s Dan Barreiro, The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski hinted that Rosas’ dismissal could be part of the integration of minority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodríguez.
“Even though Alex and Marc are not officially owners right now…everyone knows that eventually, they’re going to be making these decisions,” Krawczynski said. “…I can report now…that there was certainly a faction of people within the organization, within the basketball operations department that had some real concerns about Gersson Rosas’ leadership, about the environment he was fostering, [and] about a lot of the things that were going on.
“…To see this all bubble up a few days before [training camp], it really is speaking to a lot of chaos behind the scenes right now.”
Rosas’ departure from the Timberwolves has shades of his 2013 tenure with the Dallas Mavericks, where he resigned after three months on the job. Citing his desire to want more control over the team, Rosas returned to Houston before coming to Minnesota in 2019.
