Let’s be honest; the Minnesota Timberwolves shouldn’t have made the Rudy Gobert trade. What’s done is done, and it’s time to look forward and evaluate what’s best moving forward. It’s likely this experiment doesn’t work, but for the sake of this article, let’s look at why the front office shouldn’t make any drastic changes.

Karl-Anthony Towns and Gobert’s trade value is not as high as it was to start the 2022-23 season. Maybe it will never go back up, but the Timberwolves front office would be selling low.

KAT would probably command a respectable package, but he can easily improve his stock with one good season.

The Timberwolves also didn’t get much consistency this year. There were so many injuries, and the main one was KAT’s calf injury. The former No. 1 overall pick played in 29 of the 82 games. He did play in all five playoff games, so that adds to the sample size.

That’s nearly impossible to build any sort of winning habits – on top of adding a new point guard midseason. KAT was asked to learn a new position after spending the last eight years playing center.

Gobert played his normal position all year, but KAT went back and forth from the four and the five.

The two-man pairing wasn’t awful either. In 529 minutes, Gobert and Towns finished with a net rating of 0.6. That’s not great, but it’s not negative, and that’s what you want to see.

The two had good chemistry together, and KAT did well with getting Gobert involved.

The Timberwolves didn’t get much time with their five-man lineup either. Mike Conley was brought in halfway through the season, and KAT didn’t return until March. You could also make the case that Minnesota was the toughest matchup for the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs, and that was without Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid.

If they have those two players, does the series go six games? You build around the edges in free agency, and you’re heading into 2023-24 feeling a lot better about your chances.

That’s not a bad option either considering the talent and time played last season. Maybe a full offseason really does wonders. You think back to that three-game winning streak against the Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings – with an emphasis on the GSW and SAC games. 

That was very impressive, and that stretch of games is the blueprint for success moving forward. They also played the Phoenix Suns competitively and they were an uber-talented team.

Minnesota has a lot of talent, and there were plenty of games that left you intrigued with the potential of a two-center lineup. If they can re-sign Reid and round out the edges this offseason, then maybe this team can grab the fourth seed. The value is low for Towns and Gobert, so why not run it back and hope things go better?