Wolves look-ahead profile: Karl-Anthony Towns

With the announcement of the NBA’s 22-team plan to close out the rest of the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves are now in offseason mode. The franchise will have to make plenty of tough decisions in the coming months, including an array of personnel moves.

As Gersson Rosas and Ryan Saunders navigate the NBA offseason, FOX Sports North will analyze each player on the Timberwolves and how they might fit in with the team in the future.

This edition: Karl-Anthony Towns

Previously: Malik Beasley | Josh Okogie | Jarett Culver | Jake Layman

BACKGROUND

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft has lived up to his selection hype. Towns was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 2015-16 when he averaged 18.3 points and 10.5 rebounds. Since, he’s averaged over 21 points in each of the next four seasons (topping 24 points three of those times) and has three times averaged 12.3 rebounds or higher.

A two-time All-Star, Towns can do it all on the floor. His career averages: 22.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 blocks, 53.4% field-goal percentage, 39.6% 3-point percentage and 83.1% free-throw percentage. He is a cornerstone franchise player.

SEASON REVIEW

After missing just five games in his first four seasons – all of which came during the 2018-19 season – Towns spent more time off the court than on, playing in just 35 games first due to sprained knee and the an injured wrist suffered in February. Nevertheless, he set career marks for points (26.5), assists (4.4), 3-pointers per game (3.3, nearly double his previous high), 2-point field-goal percentage (58.6%) and effective field-goal percentage (60.0%).

STATS

GAME TO REMEMBER 

As the cliché goes, on Oct. 25 in a win at Charlotte, Towns did everything but sell popcorn. Making 13-of-17 shots (a season game-high 72.2%), including 4 of 7 from 3-point range, Towns tallied 37 points. But he also had 15 rebounds (four offensive), eight assists, four steals and two blocks. His box score +/- was a plus-25, tied for his season high. Towns’ basketball-reference.com’s Game Score was 41.1 – his next best on the season was 32.7. Oh, and played a shade under 28 minutes.

Karl-Anthony Towns: BEAST MODE pic.twitter.com/yI5LvDGGC8

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) October 26, 2019

WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT SEASON

As Minnesota’s president of basketball operations Gersson Rojas has remade the franchise, one of the few players to remain is Towns. That’s obviously no coincidence. This team is built around Towns and the Wolves finally got him the point guard he wanted in D’Angelo Russell, who was added in February. Unfortunately, good buddies Towns and Russell only played in one game together so it’s hard to know how they’ll work on the court, but there’s little doubt it will be a good mix. If there’s one thing to point to in Towns’ game which needs work (and we’re sure he’d say he needs to keep improving everywhere), it’s on the defensive side of the ball. It’s OK to be excited wanting to see a healthy Towns with Russell and how it all takes shape.