Minnesota Timberwolves owner Marc Lore made an appearance on the latest episode of The Dane Moore Podcast and spoke out on several topics including the Rudy Gobert trade, signing Karl-Anthony Towns to a supermax extension and the possibility of winning a championship in Minnesota.
Listen to the latest episode of The Dane Moore Podcast here.
Lore started by discussing the Gobert trade, which sent five players and five draft picks to the Utah Jazz. While it was a steep price to pay, Lore believes it was a unique opportunity considering the Timberwolves didn’t have to give up any of their core, including Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels.
“It’s not often you get a chance to bring in a player of Rudy’s caliber without having to give up stars,” Lore said. “That was too good of an opportunity to turn down.”
Lore praised Gobert for being one of the most underrated players in the league.
“He makes people better. I think that’s the hard thing to value and I think that’s why analytics really come into play. You could just look at the box score stats, [but] that doesn’t tell the story…everyone on the team is going to be better when he’s out on the floor and that excites us.”
While Gobert has been the main talking point, the four-year, $224 million supermax extension for Towns has flown under the radar. Despite the cost, Lore says the contract was “a no-brainer” and he considers Towns to be their franchise player.
“I know it was a lot of money and people can say that, but it was an absolute no-brainer as far as we were concerned,” Lore said. “He’s going to be around for the next six years, he’s our franchise player and it’s been great getting to know him.”
And Lore is convinced that Gobert’s presence will allow Towns to take his game to an even higher level.
“You got a big man shooting 41% [on 3-pointers last year] and almost a 40% career 3-point shooter…it’s going to give him a chance to shoot more. The other thing is, Rudy can keep him out of foul trouble. He’s going to have more minutes on the court this year. I think Karl is going to be better than he’s ever been.”
Of course, what would a Timberwolves podcast with one of the owners be without bringing up the fact that Target Center is the oldest arena in the NBA?
“We’ve got a vision,” Lore said. “We want to be one of the most admired teams in the NBA and do all the right things. Over the long term, it would be hard to imagine being admired in that way without a new arena. But we don’t have any set plan on when that would happen.”
New arena or not, Lore thinks the reconstructed roster is capable of winning a title.
“It’s going to happen,” Lore said. “It’s just a matter of time. Like I said, you get all the inputs right and you can’t control the outputs and there’s definitely a bit of luck associated with going all the way, but if every year, you’re in the mix, I think it will happen.”
Related: Draymond Green: Wolves believe Anthony Edwards is a superstar
Related: Wolves rookie Josh Minott puts on a show, swears on live TV
