Could Karl-Anthony Towns Come to Milwaukee?

Yes, I know the title sounds preposterous.  But hear me out, there might be a real chance of this happening.  Just think of how great of a match KAT and Giannis would make.  The idea of Towns in a Bucks uniform along with Giannis, Middleton and Jrue is a match made in heaven.  While there are still a lot of dominos that would have to tumble first, I’m here to say that Karl-Anthony Towns could be a future Milwaukee Buck.  Let me outline my case of how it could be done.

The Timberwolves Are Far From Competing

At the time of writing this article, Minnesota is dead last in the NBA with a record of 7-29.  This comes after a 19-45 season that lead to them receiving the first pick of the 2020 draft.  The promise that was once there seems to be gone.  The 2017-2018 team that made the playoffs has been totally dismantled outside of Towns and he can’t do everything on his own.

The first overall pick, Anthony Edwards is still very much a work in progress.  Outside of his one highlight dunk that every NBA fan has seen this year, there hasn’t been much for Minnesota fans to hold onto thus far.  He’s shooting a measly 30% from long range and just 37% overall from the field.  Very poor numbers for a guard who’s draft profile indicated offense would be his strong suit.  While he very well may become a star some day, it’s far from certainty at this stage.  Combine all of this with the firing of coach Ryan Saunders earlier this year and you have a very uncertain future as far as winning goes.  Unless Minnesota can steer this ship in the right direction soon, Towns might request a trade similar to Anthony Davis in the near future.

Towns and Giannis Have a Meaningful Friendship

As we’ve recently discussed, KAT and Giannis have a lot of respect for each other.  After their recent matchup, Towns discussed how Antetokounmpo reached out to him after his mother passed away last season from COVID-19.

“Giannis is a friend of mine I like to say,” Towns said after the game. “And I appreciate him. I don’t think he gets enough publicity how much of a man he is but I’ll say it for him, even though I know he won’t – I appreciate him and the way he’s reached out to me during my time. We really built a friendship there. So I’m really appreciative of him and the amount of care he’s put into me and my family.”

When asked about Towns’ remarks, Giannis had this to say.

“I kind of was in his spot four years ago when my dad passed away,” Antetokounmpo said of Towns. “I had the opportunity to talk with him a couple months ago, but I haven’t seen him in a long time. So, I had to go up to him and speak with him, tell him a few words, to represent his mom in the best way and tell him I’m sorry about his loss. But I kind of know how much he hurts. I know how hard it is to lose somebody that you love and then you gotta go and still do your job. It’s extremely hard.”

If you’ve paid attention to Giannis’ career, you would know that he often doesn’t like to befriend opposing players.  He makes it a point to turn down workouts with other players if they aren’t on his team.  While he isn’t purposefully making enemies around the league, he doesn’t often become friends with the opposition.  The fact that Giannis and Towns have publicly talked about how close they are says a lot.  That could go a long ways towards recruitment if Towns ever became available.

Could the Bucks Make the Trade?

In this scenario the biggest question would be whether or not Milwaukee could offer enough for Minnesota to part with it’s star player.  Ideally Milwaukee would like to keep it’s main core of Giannis, Jrue and Middleton.  If they can add Towns while retaining those players, the league would be in big trouble.

If KAT were to request a trade, Minnesota would have to be in full rebuild/tank mode as they are not currently competitive.  They would look for a combination of young players with potential and veteran players with expiring contracts to open up cap space in the future.

Here’s one trade that would work:

Bucks Receive: Karl-Anthony Towns

Timberwolves Receive: Brook Lopez, Donte Divincenzo, DJ Augustin, Pat Connaughton, 2023 First Round pick.

This would give the Timberwolves a young guard in Donte, a solid veteran stretch center in Lopez, and two solid back up guards in DJ and Pat Connaughton.  After this season Donte would be heading into the last year of his contract.  Meanwhile DJ and Brook both would still have a year left after that while Pat has a player option.  The Bucks would be banking on signing some cheap back up guards themselves to replace those losses, but this would really change the landscape of the NBA.

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Overall Picture

In reality, it’s obviously much more likely KAT doesn’t make his way to Milwaukee in the near future.  If he ever did request a trade it is likely some other team would make a more competitive offer.  However, the relationship he has with Giannis could go a long ways and maybe put the Bucks atop Towns personal destination list (like James Harden).  If a trade doesn’t happen, expect the Bucks to be strong suitors in his free agency in the future.

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