Karl Anthony-Towns on Wednesday commented on Rudy Gobert’s arrival at the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Towns has admitted that he was not prepared for the trade to take place and was not even informed by the team when it was completed.
Gobert was signed by the Timberwolves on July 1 of last year, which was also the start of the free agency period. The deal involved five other athletes and four first-round picks from the Minnesota Draft.
“It was definitely something I wasn’t ready for. I remember being in London and getting that call, so I actually had no idea that was happening. I was told by social media like everybody else, so that was something,” Towns said.
“So I had an idea of what to do. But someone like Rudy, I [haven’t] played with someone with the talent that Rudy has, so I was kind of thrown off because I was also the 5.” Towns said.
“It made me, of course, I had to move to the 4. It changed how my offseason was going to be approached,”
“It was a change for me because I didn’t know I was never not going to be the 5 again.” he added.
Towns added that he believes he has played the best basketball of his career in 2022/23. However, the power forward only appeared in 29 games during the regular season due to a calf injury.
Thus, he scored 20.8 points per game, his lowest average since his rookie season. Moreover, he had 8.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
Giannis Antetokounmpo went viral after the Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs with his comments that there is no such thing as failure in sports.
Towns has agreer in part with this concept, but considered the season alongside Gobert a failure.
“I always say it was a failure because we made big trades to win in the playoffs. But the fact that we didn’t make it past the first round makes me believe it was a failure.
“He’s right that when you give it your all on the court it’s not a failure.” the 26-year-old star added.
