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Karl-Anthony Towns could easily be elsewhere. The Minnesota Timberwolves have certainly received trade inquiries, especially after the first year of the Towns-Rudy Gobert experiment resulted in stilted offense and a disappointing first-round loss. Some of the offers were decent, sources said. Others were of the ambulance-chasing variety; Minnesota is facing a massive financial crunch starting next season, and dealing Towns as he approaches the start of a four-year, $220 million-plus extension was one plausible escape route. Every trade of the magnitude of Minnesota's 2022 deal for Gobert encompasses wagers on and against every part of the roster. It was foremost a bet on Gobert's defense, and then on Anthony Edwards -- then just approaching his 21st birthday -- developing into an alpha scorer-playmaker before Gobert, now almost 32, exited his prime. In some ways, it was a bet against Towns -- a vote of no confidence in his defense and rim protection as a center. The conundrum of Towns was that his offense sang loudest at that position. He may well be, as he claims, the greatest shooting big man ever; his ability to drag opposing centers away from the paint unlocked Minnesota's offense. He is polished enough in the post to punish switches. But what did it matter if the Wolves could never cobble a good enough defense? Acquiring Gobert would shift Towns to power forward. Would his shooting be less valuable there? He'd no longer be yanking opposing rim-protectors outside; those guys would be guarding Gobert. He would no longer be the No. 1 option on offense either; Edwards was coming for that, and the Wolves added Mike Conley to share the ballhandling load. Towns would now be chased around the arc by faster defenders. He might be able to bully some of those guys on the block, but Gobert would crowd those spaces too. Towns might have issues guarding those quicker forwards. What was Towns in an Edwards-Gobert universe -- and could the Wolves find some facsimile of that at a cheaper salary? Maybe they already had that player in Naz Reid, now in the first year of a three-year, $42 million extension. Reid hit 41% on 3s this season and won Sixth Man of the Year. The Wolves went 12-6 with Reid in Towns' starting spot as Towns recovered from knee surgery. Towns' postseason record before the Gobert trade did not inspire confidence. He had scored 11 or fewer points in four of his 12 postseason games -- including Minnesota's much-celebrated play-in win in 2022. In Minnesota's subsequent six-game first-round loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Towns compiled 27 turnovers and 25 fouls -- and just 13 assists. Under pressure, his game oscillated between two poles: overwhelmed passivity and haywire chaos. In his first two playoff games alongside Gobert last season, Towns combined for 21 points on 8-of-27 shooting -- plus nine more ugly turnovers and seven fouls. He popped in Game 3, scoring 27 points, but the Wolves fell down 3-0 against the Denver Nuggets. The tension evaporated. But as the pressure eased, Towns grew more composed. He stacked strong performances in Games 4 and 5, combining for 43 points on 14-of-26 shooting and 22 rebounds -- reducing his turnovers to a manageable five in 75 minutes. He fouled out of both games, but it felt like progress.
The further you advance in the playoffs, the more every small layer of extra talent matters. Well below Towns' level, some role players get played off the floor while others who appear to fit the same generic template survive and adapt. Towns is indeed in a slightly reduced role on offense next to Edwards, but he's bigger and more talented than anyone else in that role -- with the ability to expand his scoring in a pinch. Some stretchy bigs are good shooters with average shot release speeds. Towns is an all-time great shooter, always sniffing the hallowed 50/40/90 club. He has a turbo quick-flick release. At 7 feet tall, he can shoot over almost anyone. He can launch on the move. This is one of Minnesota's pet plays from its Game 1 win in Denver last week: The Nuggets switch the first pick, with Jamal Murray toggling onto Towns and then tracking him around Gobert's flare screen. Towns catches with nine on the shot clock. The Wolves don't have much going. He just turns and jacks from a standstill. He doesn't even register Murray in his airspace. Towns is often in a spot-up role around the Edwards-Gobert pick-and-roll. He is a four-time All-Star and has made two All-NBA teams. He's 28 -- in his prime. A lot of guys in his situation would conceive of a part-time spot-up role as beneath them. Surely, there are times Towns hungers to do a little more. But it matters that the player in this spot is a 7-foot 40% 3-point shooter with elite ball skills-- and not, say, some average 3-and-D guy: That is Denver's base pick-and-roll defense against most elite ball handlers: Nikola Jokic corralling Edwards at the point of the screen, almost trapping him, and the other Nuggets flying around in rotation below him. Jokic's teammates could stay closer to Minnesota's shooters if Jokic dropped back, but doing so concedes a long runway; Edwards can often rampage over and through Jokic in that scheme. On the broadcast, TNT's Reggie Miller suggested the Nuggets stick to Minnesota's shooters and force Gobert to make a play in space. They'd love to test Gobert -- to see whether he can navigate through some traffic. There needs to be traffic, though. That's why Murray is where he is:  Murray has ditched Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the right corner to block Gobert's path. That leaves Kentavious Caldwell-Pope -- guarding Towns -- to split the difference between Alexander-Walker and Towns, ready to close out on whoever might get the ball. Towns is the better shooter. Caldwell-Pope would love to return to him sooner. But Murray can't abandon Gobert until Jokic recovers, and Caldwell-Pope can't jet back to Towns until Murray begins his rotation back outside. Towns needs almost no time to catch and shoot. If the defense isn't perfect, it's easy money. Towns is shooting 57% through six playoff games, including 54% on 3s. He has accepted a secondary role while still understanding he has the talent to stretch the boundaries of what a secondary role really is. This possession from Minnesota's shocking Game 2 rout in Denver felt like validation of this entire team experiment -- all the pieces clicking into place: Towns again gets the Murray switch. In the past, he might have bulldozed to the post, arms flailing and legs rickety, risking an offensive foul. Here, he clears to the corner. Kyle Anderson spots the mismatch and points for Towns to screen for Edwards:  Towns demurs -- and points back at Anderson, urging him to set the screen so the Wolves can go at Jokic:  If you want to know what sacrificing to win looks like -- it looks like that: Towns getting out of the way and telling someone else to cook. Edwards whips the ball to Towns in the corner. Instead of rushing a 3, Towns dusts Murray with a pump fake, drives baseline, and rises for a layup around Jokic. The average stretch-4 can't do all of that. No limbs extend at weird angles. There are no collisions. No one falls over. Towns is leveraging his size and the breadth of his skill set with a new calm. There are still awkward moments. Towns is averaging 4.3 fouls in the playoffs -- almost identical to his rate in 2022 and 2023. Only Towns could commit a silly foul on the opening jump ball of a mega-series -- as he did in Game 1 against Denver. Towns smashing through Murray -- twice in a row -- started the cascade that led to Nuggets coach Michael Malone erupting at officials in Game 2. But Towns has coughed up just 10 turnovers in the playoffs -- 1.7 per game. He gagged 3.6 last postseason and a ghastly 4.5 against Memphis in 2022. The wild hook passes to no one are gone, the bumbling drives cut to a minimum. Towns is taking an extra beat to settle his feet, map the floor, and make sure he picks the right plan of attack. Edwards too is playing with a new refined self-assurance, making the simple reads when defenses load to him instead of forcing it. The Wolves, 17th in offensive efficiency in the regular season, are No. 1 in the playoffs. Anything near top-five-level is good enough for them to win the title with their ultra-stingy defense. This huge fourth-quarter basket from Minnesota's sweep-clinching win against the Phoenix Suns stood out because of how different it looked from so many of Towns' precarious drives from previous playoff runs: Towns could moonwalk into a hurried 3, but he pauses to reassess. Eric Gordon lunges past him, ending up on Towns' right shoulder. There is an alley to Towns' left. He takes it. Josh Okogie sets up to absorb a charge. Towns slows down, eludes Okogie with one big step, and banks in a runner. That is poised. Towns is shooting 57% from floater range in the playoffs -- a monster number. That is hard to sustain, but Towns is helping himself by staying controlled and steady. The next level is improvising when the floor is scrambled: The Nuggets nail the first part of that defensive possession. They freeze Gobert with the ball in his hands. The Wolves are a half-second from resetting their offense from scratch. But Towns catches Caldwell-Pope ball-watching and seizes a chance to cut to the foul line for a handoff. One second, Towns is standing still and holding out his hands for the ball -- a classic spot-up guy pose. A beat later, he's a 7-footer grabbing the ball in space, bouncing it once, and side-stepping the three-time MVP for a runner: role player morphing back into a superstar. You don't make that kind of cut unless you are fully engaged -- bought into your role, on high alert, brain whirring with one governing thought: How can I help my team now? That has translated to defense. It will never be Towns' strong suit, but he's grinding. He managed well enough against Kevin Durant in the first round that the Wolves did not have to resort to any matchup contortionism to make do. Durant was too fast and agile for Towns in some situations, but Towns can make up for a lot of that with sheer size and effort. A lot of the Wolves' greatness on defense comes down to them being huge. With Gobert, they are gigantic -- oversized at every position save point guard with Conley on the floor. When Alexander-Walker replaces Conley, they are almost preposterously big. Even without Gobert in Game 2, the Wolves started Jaden McDaniels, Edwards, Reid, and Towns. Positional size is the great safety net on defense. It is a constant, living antidote to mistakes and blips of confusion. There are arms everywhere. Passing lanes that exist against 29 other teams are cluttered against Minnesota. The openings ball handlers are used to seeing in the same repetitive situations -- turning the corner up top, catching off a pindown on the sideline -- aren't there. You look up, and there are no good choices -- just a blur of arms and hands and sneering faces. Towns is part of that now. He's hyperattentive. Sometimes, it comes through in the simple things -- a basic big-to-big rotation, with Reid and Towns swapping assignments on the fly in Game 2 to snuff the Murray-Jokic two-man game: Sometimes it's an urgent snap read -- Towns, head on a swivel, sensing a crisis and leaving a non-shooter to douse it: Some players go their whole careers without finding the right role on the right team. Sometimes, it's bad luck and bad decisions from management. Sometimes, players fight against any shift outside their comfort zone. And sometimes, magic happens. Circumstances align to put the right players in the right place at the right time in their careers. Towns is staring at a classic example in Aaron Gordon -- from out of place would-be ballhandling star with the Orlando Magic to apex role player in Denver. A version of that transformation might be happening for Towns -- and just in time, given the stakes of this season for Minnesota and the looming cap issues. Instead of being the odd man out -- the star Minnesota has to trade to reorient its finances and recoup picks -- maybe Towns is the bridge player snug between Edwards and Gobert in age range. There is a long way to go. The pressure increases with each round. Towns is still fouling himself to the bench too often. But something new is happening with him on the postseason stage, and it's the kind of thing that tends to happen to very good players on teams that advance to where they've never been before.
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