The Minnesota Timberwolves—now leading the West at 37-16—have soaring expectations and a soaring payroll that will almost certainly have to be reduced soon to avoid a massive luxury-tax bill under the new CBA. The most likely solution? A trade of Karl-Anthony Towns. “I think it happens this summer,” said one Western Conference exec.
“How much tax are they going to pay when [Anthony Edwards’s] extension kicks in and KAT’s extension jumps?” said an Eastern Conference exec.
https://www.theringer.com/2024/2/14/24072038/nba-trade-rumors-offseason-lebron-james-trae-youngAs I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I don’t think this is what will happen. Yes, the Wolves will be expensive, but the standard Knicks-writer answer for years is always “MIN is a farm team and will send us their stars.” I jotted down the following message to a national friend who wanted my opinion on the article.
Target Center is the second oldest arena in the NBA (behind MSG), and doesn’t have the profit centers of new arenas. It is very likely the ARod and Marc Lore will use the Timberwolves success to try to get some public funding for a new arena.
Minneapolis is not like Oklahoma City, and stadium deals get voted down here often. The Thunder are a part of OKC’s identity. The Twin Cities DMA is 3-4 times the size of OKC. They have all four major pro sports, soccer, and all the college sports of a Big Ten university right downtown. Aside from the Vikings, sports fans tend to follow whoever is successful. It is so hard to get public funding that the City of Saint Paul had to spearhead XCel center to bring hockey back to Minnesota - Minneapolis wouldn’t pay anything for it. Right now, after a long time in the wilderness, the Wolves have the public eye, and might be able to get that arena.
If ARod and Lore want public funding, they need to ask immediately. They can’t have the public see their first move as the main owners to be making the team worse to save themselves luxury taxes. If they need liquidity, they won’t cut taxes - they will horcrux up a small stake in the team, as they have done already with Eric Schmidt, the former google exec. The Wolves franchise value is ballooning even faster than the NBA average - they had the second biggest increase (behind OKC) over the last year, according to Forbes.
Marc Lore wants to build his own city. It seems out of character that he wouldn’t want to build a new arena, and that probably means Towns stays.