RealGM Basketball Wiretap

22 October 2024

• Warriors Expressed Interest In Karl-Anthony Towns Trade With Wolves

  The Golden State Warriors discussed a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns this past offseason before he was eventually dealt to the New York Knicks, sources tell Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

  The Wolves, however, were targeting a specific package type from the Knicks that the Warriors didn't possess. Talks between the two teams didn't progress.

  The Warriors were also linked to Paul George and Lauri Markkanen this past offseason. Without any executable major trades, the Warriors are hoping their additions of Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson and De'Anthony Melton will help bolster their playoff chances.

• Anthony Edwards On Minnesota: I'm Trying To Be Here For My Whole Career

  Anthony Edwards reached the Western Conference Finals with the Minnesota Timberwolves in his age 22 season and fourth in the NBA. Edwards signed a five-year, $260 million extension with the Wolves during the 2023 offseason to commit his future to the franchise.

  "If I can, I'm trying to be here for my whole career," Edwards told ESPN. "I ain't trying to go nowhere."

  Edwards has already developed a reputation as one of the NBA's most competitive players.

  "If he ever loses [at anything], he's going to make sure that he practices and practices and practices until he's ready to play you again," said Justin Holland, Edwards' longtime trainer and business manager. "And you probably won't win."

  The Wolves are also going through an ownership dispute and there are concerns about their ability to pay the luxury tax over the long-term as one of the NBA's smaller market franchises.

• Wolves Waive Keita Baties-Diop

  The Minnesota Timberwolves have waived Keita Bates-Diop. The Wolves acquired Bates-Diop from the New York Knicks as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns trade.

  Bates-Diop appeared in two preseason games with the Wolves, averaging 5.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 12.3 minutes.

  Last season, Bates-Diop averaged 3.7 points and 2.1 rebounds in 12.5 minutes across 53 games with the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets.

• Keita Bates-Diop Appears To Be Odd Man Out For Timberwolves Roster

  Veteran forward Keita Bates-Diop was not at Minnesota Timberwolves practice on Saturday. That suggests that Bates-Diop may be the odd man out as the Wolves finalize their regular season roster.

  Minnesota currently has 16 players on standard contracts. The 15th and final spot is between Bates-Diop and veteran guard P.J. Dozier. The Timberwolves signed Dozier to a $1 million partially guaranteed contract earlier this offseason.

  Minnesota is reportedly exploring the trade market for Bates-Diop. If no deal is found, the Wolves will likely eat the forward's $2.6 million salary for this season.

• Timberwolves Waive Skylar Mays; Mays To Join Fenerbahce

  Veteran guard Skylar Mays is set to join Fenerbahce in Turkey for the upcoming season. Mays went to training camp with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but was waived as part of the team's cutdown process.

  Fenerbahce was on the lookout for guard help, as Scottie Wilbekin recent suffered a torn ACL. Mays will head overseas for the first time after spending the initial four years of his career with the Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers.

  Last season, Mays split time between Portland and Los Angeles. In 38 total NBA games, the 6-foot-4 guard averaged 4.1 points and 2.2 assists in 11.4 minutes per game.

• Glen Taylor Preferred Wolves Retain Karl-Anthony Towns Over Making Trade Sacrificing Short-Term

  Glen Taylor insisted to Tim Connelly this offseason that he was comfortable with the Minnesota Timberwolves paying a significant luxury tax bill this season and that he preferred to retain Karl-Anthony Towns rather than make a trade that made their team worse this season, sources tell The Athletic.

  Taylor is currently in a dispute over the ownership of the Wolves with Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez. Taylor remains the final decision-maker with the franchise as the dispute is pending. Taylor told Connelly that he wouldn't sign off on a trade unless it helped them competitively this season.

  Connelly has no interest in starting a rebuild, but he also realized he needed more optionality in the near- and long-term. The Wolves will now save enough money to likely retain Naz Reid and it could open up more roster building mechanisms if they drop below the second apron for the 25-26 season.

  Sources also say there were few other viable options for a Towns' trade beyond what the Knicks were offering as the Wolves wanted established players.

• Julius Randle On Wolves: I Feel Wanted Here

  Julius Randle addressed the media on Thursday for the first time since he was traded by the New York Knicks to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Randle joined the Knicks ahead of the 19-20 season and helped turn around the franchise.

  "You want to be somewhere where you feel wanted. I feel wanted here," Randle said Thursday. "At this point in my career, I've accomplished a lot of great things on an individual level, but I want to win a championship. This is a perfect opportunity to do that."

  Randle will help the Wolves replace Karl-Anthony Towns as he potentially enters a free agent offseason.

  "It was a breath of fresh air," Randle said about the trade. "I'm excited to bring everything I've learned here over the past five years and help these guys out. My only thing here is I just want to help.

  "I want to help [Anthony Edwards]. I want to help Rudy [Gobert], Naz [Reid] -- all those guys. I want to help win a championship, and that's the only thing that matters."

• RealGM Radio: Anthony Irwin On The Lakers, Dane Moore On Minnesota, Brendon Klein On Phoenix

  Host Wes Goldberg checks in on three Western Conference teams after media days were held this week. First is Anthony Irwin (Lakers Daily, Lakers Lounge) to talk about the Los Angeles Lakers and changes under JJ Redick. Next is Dane Moore (Dane Moore NBA Podcast) to talk about why the Minnesota Timberwolves traded Karl-Anthony Towns and what happens next. And finally, Brendon Kleen (Locked On Suns) joins the show to discuss changes to the Phoenix Suns and if they will buy in under Mike Budenholzer.

  Subscribe to RealGM Radio on Apple Podcasts or via the RSS feed. Watch on YouTube.

• Hornets Acquire Three 2nd Round Picks To Facilitate Knicks-Wolves Trade

  The Charlotte Hornets have agreed to acquire three second round picks along with DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown and Duane Washington Jr. to help facilitate the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves' trade of Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first round pick via the Detroit Pistons. The Knicks will send two second rounders, while the Wolves will send one.

  The Hornets will receive $7.2 million in cash to offset the salaries of the three players, who will earn a combined $6.8 million in 24-25 in their sign-and-trades. The second and third seasons of their contracts are non-guaranteed.

  The Hornets have also agreed to trade the draft rights of James Nnanji to the Knicks. Nnaji was the 31st overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft and averaged 2.5 points and 2.0 rebounds in 7.2 minutes over 49 games last season for Barcelona. Nnaji was going to play for the Hornets in Summer League this year, but he underwent surgery to on his lumbar spine.

• Knicks Pursued Trade For Karl-Anthony Towns Since Beginning Of Offseason

  While news of the New York Knicks' trade of Karl-Anthony Towns broke suddenly last week, the front office had been pursuing a deal for him over the past several months. The Knicks' need for a center with Mitchell Robinson's injury issues expedited their pursuit for Towns.

  "This pursuit of Karl-Anthony Towns really picked up steam over the last, I think, week, two weeks when the Knicks started calling Minnesota about him," said Shams Charania on the Throwbacks podcast. "Making offers. Making concepts of offers. They were just given hard no's repeatedly. Way back, even around draft time, July, and into the months of August, a lot of the offers Knicks were conceptually discussing, from what I'm told, were around Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson. From Minnesota's perspective, that was not going to get it done.

  "Over the last week is when finally the inclusion of Donte DiVincenzo was included in this proposal, not Mitchell Robinson. So then you have Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. But still that was a "no." Minnesota wanted an asset. [Friday] night, the Knicks, from what I'm told, finally put that first round pick from Detroit on the table.

  "We got wind [Friday] that there were active conversations. Ongoing conversations. I didn't know until maybe 15-20 minutes before we dropped the news, me and my colleague Jon Krawczynski at The Athletic.

  "You never know when it's a deal that's this fluid, when you get wind a couple days out it's active, it's outgoing."

  One of the complications of completing the trade was finding a third team to help facilitate the deal.

  "The deal for the Knicks over the past several days is finding who that third team is going to be," added Charania. "They had a few teams lined up. Charlotte became the team for them."