At a press conference to announce his super-max extension on Friday, Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns said he is fully aware of the expectations the team has going forward after trading an enormous amount of assets for three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.
“Championship or bust,” Towns said.
He elaborated further once the press conference was over.
“When you make the trade that we made, that’s the reality. I’m not trying to sugarcoat,” Towns told Michael Rand of The Star Tribune. “You’ve got to think that. That’s really what’s on the table. I don’t think the fans would be accepting of [a goal of] a third-round elimination. … Let’s be real. The standards are high. The pressure is high. And that’s when we should all love to play basketball even more.”
As Rand writes, the idea that Minnesota would have such lofty goals even last summer, after a disappointing season saw the team finish 23-49, 13th in the West, might have seemed preposterous.
But things change quickly in the NBA, Rand notes. The Wolves won 46 games last season and made the playoffs for just the second time in the past 18 years, and now after acquiring a four-time All-NBA center, the bar for success has risen dramatically.
New president of basketball Tim Connelly said he was grateful that Towns was so eager to recommit to the only franchise he’s ever known.
“For Karl, he’s seen a lot of tough days,” Connelly said, per Rand. “It was so exciting to hear how excited he was about Finchy (head coach Chris Finch) and his teammates and how quickly he was willing to get this done.”
Yeah when you give up almost a decade worth of first rounders it better be championship or bust lol
well you are wrong, it’s #1 picks every other year, so there’s that.
Well you are wrong, they traded swaps as well so if they are bad the jazz will have their pick every year
You’re also wrong. It’s ONE pick swap. Which is meaningless bc the Wolves will be better that year and for the next 10 years, so those picks will all be late 20s
Seem pretty confident about a franchise that has been better than the #4 seed in the conference ONCE in their entire history.
Didn’t know pst history was a predictor of the future. Rudy’s team always have a top 5-10 defense. Add that to perimeter players that can actually defend and a top 5 offense with Ant who is STILL only 20 years old. Ant has multiple All NBA in his future. KAT can now just shoot/ score and not worry about playing the other teams best big.
Dlo ain’t great but he can play PNR and Gobert is a big time PNR screen setter.
Gobert just adds everything the Wolves lacked. The wolves have everything the previous Jazz teams lacked, mostly perimeter defense and players scoring from more than 1 guy.
Ant is better than Spyda
Dlo is equal to the crust of Mike Con
Jaden is better than Royce O’Neal
KAT is better than Bogdan
Jaylen Nowell will surprise most of the league and be Jordan Clarkson level bench scorer.
SloMo is better than any Jazz reserve player.
The national narrative is to blame Rudy but his teammates can’t defend at all and Rudy can’t guard five guys at once.
Y’all wait. Wolves gonna win 50+.
Championship? Not this year but they are waaaay improved and will only lose a bunch of late 20s picks.
Lmk all the late 20s draft picks that alter a franchise, and can immediately improve a team’s weaknesses while not taking the ball away from its best players.
The answer is to maybe do SOMETHING before proclaiming “championship or bust.” I hope Minnesota does well, I am a huge KAT fan even though I think he would be better if he would just shut up with the bad interviews and play ball.
I get that you like Edwards, but he has not proven that he is better than Mitchell. Could he be better? Sure. Is he right now? Hell no. Mitchell is a better shooter, a better rebounder, and a better passer at this moment.
The Spurs did pretty good with Tony Parker (#28) and Manu Ginobili (#28 of the SECOND round). Jimmy Butler was pick #30. The Raptors don’t win their title without Pascal Siakam (#27) and OG Anunoby (#23). For that matter, Rudy Gobert himself was a late 20s pick (#27). So yes late 20s picks DO matter as long as they are not picked by a team that think Jonny Flynn is better than Steph Curry.
Yes that’s about 6-7 players over the past 20 years so 6-7 players out of like 200…not such good odds. Also the Wolves do have every other pick after the trade AND they kept their core pieces.
I’m sorry but Manu is NOT winning a chip without Duncan. Aaaaand Manu took years to develop… just like most every player including the great like Kawhi so worrying about a pick in 2029 and waiting years for that pick to develop would push past the window of KAT. It’s an all I trade for sure but the window lines up with KAT and if it doesn’t then you would have to flip KAT which will re-load picks and build around Ant and Jaden. Even Rudy will probly be worth 1 FRP in two years if it just doesn’t work. It’s betting on Rudy balancing the weaknesses of KAT and not taking the ball out of KAT or Ants hand. There literally isn’t a more impactful player in the NBA that does it without the ball than Rudy.
Yeah we all remember the Curry Flynn. But this isn’t the same FO or ownership so I don’t really see how that matters. This group picked ANT over Wiseman and Ball. Ant is already better than both and his ceiling is way higher. And yes Ant is better than Spyda. Today. He’s actually plays both sides of the ball and is 6’6 220+. Spyda is an undersized SG who only plays on one side.
Chargers QB Justin Herbert is 6’6″ 236. That doesn’t make him a better SG than Mitchell either.
Good luck to you. I hope I am wrong and all your wishes come true.
And what is your solution to just give up and say well we sucked let’s just keep sucking…???
Rest of the league is just pissed and scared bc it’s not the lakers trying to get better.
Y’all keep dreaming you’re gonna get Kyrie for Westbroke and THT.
THT isn’t even a top 7 player on the Wolves roster rn.
KAT. Ant. Rudy. Dlo. Jaden. SloMo. Nowell.
Do they make decaf in Minnesota? If so, I suggest looking into it.
If you’re gonna try to talk noise at least be willing to back it. How bad the Wolves were in 2006 has zero to do with how good they are gonna be next year.
Rudy is a walking top 10 defense. Wolves were a top 10 defense last year by blitzing the PNR, now they can play drop coverage as well. Add that to a top rated offense and a 20yo Ant.
Sorry all people want to hear about on sports talk Is the Cowboys and the Lakers. Minn has something cooking and took a big risk to make themselves a contender. 50+ wins is a huge stride and that’s a lock for the next 4 years. Theyre betting on Ant becoming all NBA and KAT being unlocked by playing more like Dirk with an enforcer next to him.
Good luck to you.
Towns is one of the most stupid players I have ever seen receive starters minutes on a basketball court, let alone the first one being paid like a Saudi prince. It’s as if he’s playing in his own little world. If the NBA had a special education division, he’d be unanimous First Team.
So it’s bust ey?
Or
It ain’t gonna be championship.
Rudy is Draymond and the Warriors gimp. His style literally has been mythbusted – it does not work in playoff basketball. The Wolves are not only the dumbest franchise, but they make their players look dumb by making them think they have a chance at winning a title, when they literally never ever will.
Have fun watching the Warriors win the next 10 or so West Conferences hahahah
Gobert has never played next to a big man with shooting skills like Kat….we have no idea how the aging Warriors will handle him now.
How’s KAT gonna help when Draymond and Steph run a million pick n rolls against Rudy? Also, if Poole or Steph, or any other small defender gets switched on Rudy, he can’t even score on them, cuz he has zero post moves. He will be neutralised on D through high picks and be a zero on offence too. Hard to play 4 vs 5 against any team, let alone the warriors
Enjoy being a Warriors simp. The championship last year was against the weakest NBA league n the last 30 years. Luka and the no names were in the WCF. Warriors also beat Nikola and the no names, and the Grizz who were being beaten by the wolves in almost every game.
Just watch Rudy play defense with guys who actually care about and can play perimeter defense. Sorry you’ve never heard of Jaden McDaniels, better defender than Rudy has ever played with.
So Jadem Mcdeniels is the X factor that will stop the warriors? Even if he is good, KAT, Dlo and Ant are not even average perimeter defenders. So how is Rudy and Jaden stopping the Warriors who beat an amazing defensive team in Boston?
I’m a Lakers fan, so I know how it feels when fans of losing teams try to put an asterisk at winning the title. Any title (except the freaking houston astros, the only team in sports I really hate) is as good as any other, trying to degrade it is pointless and silly
Point is that Jaden is better than any defender than Rudy has had. The Jazz gave free runs at everyone towards Rudy. The Warriors are great but they won’t be around forever and you really can’t argue that the WC was any good last year. The suns quit the Mavs have one player. The Nugs had one player. It was not an impressive championship run. The Celts were barely .500 and got redhot but they were in talks to trade their “PG”. They also turned the ball over way too much which is a death knell against the Ws. And Tatum really couldn’t get it going over Wiggins which is lol. Wiggins sucks.
Both teams, Cs, and Ws, played with two bigs on the court. Act like Nutshot Dray and Looney are space and pace guys lol. The Rudy gets played off is a NARRATIVE. His perimeter defenders are TERRIBLE. The Jazz were still better on off with Gobert on the court. Gobert doesn’t need post moves. The Ws don’t even need him to touch the ball unless it’s finishing a lob which he is going to do a ton, and that will space the floor for Ant and KAT.
Ant is 20 and was at least an average perimeter defender. His issue was off ball defense which can be taught. He has crazy skills length and strength to be well above average.
The WS are the champs but do t act like beating Luka and nothing else is something. Nor is the Nugs with only Nikola. It was a cake walk to the WCF and theyre best players will be a year older with more mileage. They won’t be the Rinals champs next year. Book it. Not saying the Wolves will but I’d bet they see multiple WCF during Rudy’s current deal. Only one team can be the champs but the Wolves were going to top out for the next few years as a middle WC team. They are legit contenders now, Imo. People around the league have no idea how good their coach, Finch, is or who he even is and how good Ant can be.
Betting on Wolves sniffing WCF?) Here is a better bet for you – who asks out of Minnesota first, Ant or KAT?)) When they will realise the ceiling of this roster with Rudy and that they don’t have any picks to trade to make them better, one or both will want to leave.
Wiggins suks?) In Minnesota he did, in San Francisco he was the second best player on a championship team. That’s a fact, good luck watching Dlo taking 30 foot jumpers with 15 seconds left on the shot clock and Ant standing in the corner is disbelief he didn’t get the ball
KAT just re-upped. Soooo he’s probly not asking out. Name ONE SINGLE PLAYER who hasn’t accepted their Max Rookie extension. Zero players have ever ever done that. Zero. Ant got to the playoffs and balled in his second year. He has a great coach. He’s not asking out. He will be in Minn until like 2028 at least.
If KAT was gonna ask he would’ve done it a looong time ago. It’s not his style. Sorry you don’t really know anything about the subjects you are taking about.
Yes Wigs sucks. His all star nod was a joke bc most of the wings in the west were hurt. He sucks. Playing alongside HOF players made him a good fit bc he had zero pressure and responsibility, he’s no max guy. He literally said he didn’t ever try to rebound bc when he actually tried it was easy for him. F that guy on any team that’s not loaded with stars and a great HC. He is Harrison Barnes on a max.
Yup DLO is the worst player on the starting five, but he’s also probly a top40-50 NBA player, again as the worst player on your starting five…he’s also on the last year of his deal. Minn needs to extend and trade or just trade him. It’s not like he is holding the team back long term. They need to lock in his salary slot and try to improve on his position.
Losing those picks hurts but the Wolves just added SloMo at the MLE. Forbes and Rivers on mini deals and still have picks in the other years to improve, plus new ownership that looks to be willing to spend to buy 2nds which aren’t that much different from the late firsts where they will pick.
With a 20yo Ant the Wolves were picking 19. How low have the Jazz been picking ther and later and name all the draft picks that have improved their team during Rudy’s tenure. This Wolves squad is way better than the Jazz outside of Rudy and he just flipped teams.
Said before but Ant better Spyda. Dlo equal mike con. Jaden better than Royce. KAT waaaaaay better tha Bogdan. Nowell is going to equal Clarkson. Jazz don’t have anyone decent as SloMo and Finch is a legit coach of the year guy.
The wolves will be a top 1-4 seed for the next 4 years those picks aren’t worth what people think. And their new POBO Tim Connelly has a great track record of picking late and finding starter caliber or at least rotation players.
Again picks in the late 20s are a crap shoot and the hits are mostly role players. Role players that can be and just were easily replaced with guys like SloMo, Forbes and Rivers. Even before adding TC the Wolves got Jaylen Nowell and Naz Reid as late 2nd and a UDFA. Not world beaters but Reid is an NBA backup big and Nowell is going to be a legit 6th man scoring machine like Jordan Clarkson. Not bad for being drafted mid-late 2nd.
Warriors are one Curry twisted ankle away from being a lottery team AGAIN. 10 years???Delusional. Father Time is undefeated and he’s coming for the warriors.
The “myth” is that Rudy got played off in the playoffs. Jazz had better on off numbers with Rudy ON the floor. Wolves going to surround Rudy with way more talent than the Jazz ever have.
No body in the league fears KAT. All this championship or bust talk. I even seen a thing today where he compares himself and ANT to Shaq and Kobe. Like bro you ain’t him
KAT is like Blake Griffin but instead of athleticism it’s shooting. Absolutely no aloha in him at all just talk. Going to be funny when they end up the 7th seed
Did anyone fear Dirk?
EVERYONE feared Dirk, wtfff are you 8 years old??
Dirk didn’t win anything of note until they got Tyson Chandler to be his enforcer.
Rudy >>>>> Chandler.
KAT is the best center in the league, he can also play power foward, thats why they picked up Gobert. Gobert is second best center in league, some will say even the best, what gives KAT the edge is his offence and athleticism. Then you have Antony Davis, Joel Embiid, and Nikola Jokic, all top tier. This is a chess move for the Wolves. You say 7th seed, you must be delusional.And dont compare KAT to Blake, two different positions. Blake is looking hungry out there in Brooklyn, if Durant stays and Simmons plays a full season, Warriors better watch out.
The TWolves centers over Embiid and Jokic is pretty bold…
Or even the 2 time MVP in Denver..
Jokic is the best center in the league, you are wrong 1000000000x.
Embiid is way better too.
“Warriors better watch out” watch for what? Our toy, Rudy? We OWN him. We also OWN the Wolves and the entire Western Conference. You don’t know ball.
Blake is looking hungry……..lol. good luck with that!
Excellent points and comparisons. Championship or Bust. They had to add a center to play defense because KAT is so deficient defensively.
Kat doesn’t have to worry about defense as much anymore….I believe they will fear him.
As a Wolves fan, KAT always disappoints when he does interviews. He’s a goober. Buuut the NBA will fear Ant. Just wait. It’s going to be Ants team with multiple All NBA guys flanking him. Plus a perennial coach of the year guy in Finch.
Agreed. This may already be Anthony Edwards team. KAT scares nobody in the league. If Minnesota wants a title, they need to figure out how to flip KAT and D’Angelo Russell for KD and Kyrie. Then you have a title.
KAT has become more visible and vocal around nba, but he still has no clue what winning in postseason means or what it takes…. Long long way to go…
Exactly, and the same goes for all these “hypothetical” NBA fans online who have literally never followed a championship team from start to finish, like I (and GSW fans) just did. When you do this, you then can watch all the other teams and immediately see why they aren’t a championship team.
There’s patterns you notice and also a lot of it has to do with the roster going 12+ pretty good players deep. If you have never followed a champion from start to finish you will never see these things. KAT has never played on one of these teams, so what does he even know what to look for?
Big aspirations for a team who was crying after a play in round victory
No generational talent, No Championship. It’s that simple.
Wait till you meet Anthony Edwards.
U have been in the league 7 years and haven’t won a playoff series. Sit down and shut up
It’s good for the franchise. We all know it’s a big dream. You gotta learn how to walk before you can run. (Win a playoff series first)
Players say crazy things. ANT says he’s the best player that ever was..
Maybe this extra bit of confidence can help KAT turn into a leader.
The Wolves are a failed franchise who should be shut down at this point. They remain the joke of the NBA until someone finally puts them out of their misery. Their stadium is probably built on an old burial ground or something – just delete them and start over in Minnesota with new franchise+owners who aren’t losers.
Nope thankfully there is the Kings.
Finally, someone with a realistic view of the
cursed Timberpuppies.
@A’sfaninUK —you literally said that they should start over in Minnesota…Is that not what they’re pretty much doing? New coaches, new owners, new president of Basketball operations, new players coming in, and half their reserves just went to Utah.
A complete restart would be ridiculous…KAT does have his issues, but he does have some major strengths. It would be very difficult to let him go somewhere else.
So a players can’t have an expectation for himself and his team? You’d rather have him roll over and say, naw, we aren’t that good. Maybe next year? Get out of here.
Minny is likely to surprise many and make the conference finals.
@ Juice
Unlikely is far more likely.
They have done absolutely zero this offseason to clear Golden State or even the Clippers with Kawhi.
Adding an All NBA and multiple DPOY is nothing?
SloMo is a good playoff top 8 rotation player.
All you know is how to slurp the warriors.
If you actually watched teams outside your slurp session you’d know that the Jazz were better with Rudy than n than off even in the playoffs. You’d also know that he had zero help on defense. One guy can’t guard five.
Just wait your team is done.
Championship or bust is as cliche as one game at a time. of course its championship or bust, that’s literally the goal for every player every year. If a dude says he doesnt want to win a championship hes just in the league to steal some fans money.
Not quite. Can’t way to hear it from the Spurs and Magic players. Winning (a championship) isn’t every thing, the will to win (the game) is everything. Winning many games (and the last one) leads to the championship.
John Madden would be proud of you.
KAT is the man who can bring the ring to Minny!
TWOLVES will be play-in tournament worthy.
Winning a playoff series will be their absolute ceiling.
Day drinking again?
You know ball – anyone who has watched Rudy crumble in the playoffs agrees with this take.
Minnesota is a cursed, pathetic franchise who will never win anything in our lifetimes. That’s a fact.
its only championship or bust because he just said it to the media, idk if anyone around the league felt that way. he put those expectations on himself. also, theyre gonna miss pat bev
MIN will be the next test case on tanking as a method of rebuilding. No tanking team, at least in this century (when tanking, multi-year, has become a thing) has gone on to win a championship. Those coming the closest have combined methodical losing with great luck at the ping pong balls. But, regardless of the talent influx from their high draft picks, and regardless of the number of trades they made to supplement it, it hasn’t been enough. Coaches often speak generally of the difficulties of overcoming a losing culture. More specifically, the way players develop while on perennial losing teams; they get better at playing, stat-wise, but not any better at winning (since their teams aren’t really playing to win). Stars will still develop into stars, individually, at least stat-wise, but not into one of the leads on a championship team.
MIN and KAT are now up with a 3-4 year window. MIN has 3 other max (or to be max) players, but KAT, in his 8th year, is the one that has to own this team’s playoff fortunes in this window, because it’s his career they will define.
Minnesota never tanked to build, they were just naturally bad.
This is my problem with some attitudes in sports. This is a franchise that has only been out of the first round of the playoffs ONE TIME in their entire 34 year history. They have only finished better than 3rd in their division once. They have missed the playoffs entirely 24 times and been bounced in the first round 9 times. The did make the WCF in 2004, but I don’t think prime KG is coming back to help.
This is a franchise that should be THRILLED to even make the playoffs for a couple of years. Then work their way up to winning a series or two. Then maybe being a championship contender. But saying something stupid like this is just ridiculous.
This just reeks of Ricky Bobby. If you’re not first, you’re last. Just stupid.
Yeah but what can you really say as a competitor?
Uhhhh our goal is to make it one round further than last year? You’d get ripped to shreds for having a loser mentality.
The fans, myself included, are thrilled to even win a playin game. And a more experienced team, with defense and rebounding (hello Rudy) would have easily beat the Grizz. They had double digit leads in the 4th but lost it due to zero rebounding and sank like a stone when KAT had to sit to begin the 4th. Now they can stagger Rudy and KAT and play them together. Now they have 1.5 years of Finch, who took the team for a laughing stock and terrible D to a top 10 defense BEFORE adding Rudy. Finch is known aee tree puns the NBA as an offensive guru and that’s what he could do defensively. Plus they have a 20yo Ant who just tasted the playoffs. That Ant dude is the man. Just wait. Dude is going to retire as the 3rd best all time SG in like 15+ years.
But as a player you have to have an attitude to win every single game, and take that attitude as far as you possibly can.
Let’s see the Wolves in action. They may click like the Bulls did and surprise. I think they have the right coach too.
Hey KAT, based on those of us who have followed the team’s pathetic history since 1989, we bet on BUST !! PROVE US WRONG !!
Not a huge wolves fan but there are many ways to win a championship. It’s nice they’re trying something new instead of being followers. People forget the pistons beat Kobe and Shaq in 5 games for the title in 2004. Adding Sheed that year made a huge difference.
I can absolutely see Kat and Rudy being an even sicker combo and similar skills match of that Big Ben and Rasheed Wallace pairing. Deangelo just needs to make his 3’s at a high percentage and if Edwards has a true 3rd year breakout or takes another step forward… they’re going to give many teams fits… many All stars are not built to win a championship by themself… they need the right team around them, and the right coaching… I don’t think teams will be able to beat them with a standard line up and they might be a new kind of challenge to teams trying to play small ball. They’ve got some solid options to play the tayshaun prince role. The team needs phenomenal ball movement and players committed to off ball moving and they’ll be going deep this year