Is Karl-Anthony Towns really a problem in Minnesota?

Back during the 2016-17 season, I remember sitting on my couch watching a Celtics-Wolves regular season game. This was pre-Jimmy Butler, so Minnesota were a lottery team. First play of the game, 21-year old Karl-Anthony Towns matched up against Al Horford. He pumped twice, jabbed, went behind his back, stepped back, and pulled up in the face of the veteran Horford. Swish.

This was my first time watching a KAT game where I really felt, “This guy is gonna be an all-time great”. That year he put up averages of 25.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists on 57.6% eFG. At the time people were arguing over who was the most talented young player in the league between him, Anthony Davis, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. (In retrospect, a silly argument) A season later and KAT is one of the most underappreciated stars in the league.

KAT has been consistently maligned by fans and the media for a variety of issues, including his defense, playoffs performance (both defensible criticisms), leadership, and effort. (Both indefensible criticisms) Going into the 2015 draft, I thought KAT was for sure the number one pick, but I didn’t imagine he would be what he is today.

He’s a monster. He’s a machine. The dude is the most versatile scoring big man I’ve seen in my life. Aside from Joel Embiid and Kevin Garnett, I’ve never seen a big man be able to score off the dribble the way he does. I’ve never seen a big man shoot 3s as well and as confidently as him. His footwork is incredible. His touch is insanely soft. Combine that with his athleticism, ability to score in the post, and underrated passing and you have the most technically sound offensive big man since Tim Duncan. To help illustrate my point, here’s a list of the centers in league history who posted at least 25 PPG and 10 RPG on at least 55% eFG for an NBA season. (Minimum 50 games)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - ‘71, ‘72, ‘73, ‘77, ‘78, ‘81

Anthony Davis - ‘18

Patrick Ewing - ‘90

Shaquille O’Neal - ‘94, ‘95, ‘96, ‘97, ‘98, ‘00, ‘01, ‘02, ‘03

David Robinson - ‘91

Karl-Anthony Towns - ‘17

So aside from Davis, who has been covered to death on the “future all time great” front, we have four of the ten greatest centers ever and four of the forty greatest players ever. This list also excludes some notable names, including Wilt Chamberlain, Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone, and Dwight Howard. Not to mention, aside from Davis, none of the guys on this list shot 100 3s in a season. Only Shaq put up similar numbers at the young age of 21.

My point in all this: Karl-Anthony Towns is untradeable. The fact that people ever believed that Minnesota would trade him to appease Jimmy Butler is incredible. And are we sure KAT is the problem in this duo? There has been plenty of evidence that Butler has historically had trouble with his teammates and coaches, even dating back to the Thibodeau era in Chicago. There’s includes the Rondo-Wade-Butler spat, the reports that Butler’s Bulls teammate’s claimed he received special treatment from the coaches and staff, reports that Butler and Joakim Noah had been in conflict multiple times during their last season together, and a controversial statement from Butler's own mouth that the Bulls traded him because they were unwilling to fire Fred Hoiberg in order to please him.

The list goes on and on. I’m not in the locker room, so I’m not claiming that Butler is for sure the instigator here. For all I know KAT might be the lazy, out-of-shape, immature teenager who would rather play PUBG than win basketball games that he’s been portrayed as by the media. What I’m saying here is that history suggests Jimmy Butler can be a difficult personality to have on your team.

The other criticisms against Towns are for the most part, justifiable. His defense was good his first year, awful his second year, and average this past season. Considering the Wolves were tanking his second year and stars on tanking teams often forego defense, it’s not as terrible as it seems at first glance. Again, I’m not saying he’s gonna be All-Defensive first team in his prime. For all I know he might just be the next Amar’e Stoudemire like some say. But cut the kid some slack.

The skill and talent KAT has shown at the ages of 21 and 22 are incredible. You don’t trade a guy who’s scored over 5,000 points, pulled down over 2,500 rebounds, and played 246 of a possible 246 games by the age of 22. When compiling the list of the most untradeable assets in the NBA (ignoring contract) the list goes Davis, Giannis, Embiid, Towns, Simmons. Towns is the best shooter of all those guys by a decent margin. He’s the only one of those players to never miss a game. His mobility gives him the potential to be as malleable defensively as Davis or Embiid.

He’s playing for a franchise that just made the playoffs for the first time in the past FOURTEEN seasons. He’s playing under a coach that ran one of the most promising young players in league history into the ground within four years and has historically overplayed and overworked his promising young players. And he plays in an offense where he’s marginalized and takes a disgustingly low number of shots. (Third on his team despite being the best scorer)

It’s easy now to pinpoint his weaknesses and call him soft and overrated. But you don’t trade this guy, ever. His ceiling is a combination of Dirk Nowitzki’s shooting and Kevin Garnett’s mobility, post game, and athleticism. And good Lord, if he reaches that ceiling, every single NBA fan will be in for a show.