Souhan: With Karl-Anthony Towns trade, Timberwolves boss Tim Connelly pulls another surprising deal

I always found myself defending Karl-Anthony Towns, while wondering why he always needed defending.

Great person. Great teammate. Great offensive player who improved defensively the past two years.

Now, there is no reason to defend Towns. He proved his value on the trade market.

Friday night, the Timberwolves dealt Towns to Tom Thibodeau’s New York Knicks for All-Star forward Julius Randle, shooting star Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick the Knicks own via Detroit.

You can think highly of Towns, and think even more highly of this deal.

Towns is one of the best-shooting big men in NBA history. Randle is different stylistically but is capable of matching Towns’ production. DiVincenzo becomes a valuable three-point shooter on a team intent on improving offensively. The Wolves replace one of the first-round picks they traded for Rudy Gobert.

And the Wolves get Randle and DiVincenzo for about $10 million less a year than they were set to pay Towns, giving them financial flexibility while they strive to build a championship team around Anthony Edwards.

Those are the nuts and bolts of a stunning trade that surprised even the NBA insiders who always seem to know what’s going to happen long before it actually happens.

What might be most fascinating about this deal is the person who executed it — Wolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly.

The Stealth Bomber.

The Day Trader.

Carpe Diem Tim.

Connelly showed up in Minnesota, hung a couple of pictures in his new office, learned how to work the coffee machine, then traded half the franchise for Gobert, and nobody saw it coming.

He walked into the 2024 draft with a pocketful of loose change, and wound up with the eighth pick, promising guard Rob Dillingham; and Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr., who looks more like an NBA player than a lot of NBA players.

Now he has pulled off another blockbuster deal, and none of the NBA insiders knew about it until Randle started calling realtors.

Now we know why Adrian “Woj” Wojnarowski left ESPN. He couldn’t keep up with the Day Trader.

After the draft, Wolves General Manager Matt Lloyd raved about Connelly’s maneuvering, saying, “The guy was a complete monster the last few days, putting us in a position to add to the team with limited resources.”

Connelly is still a “monster,” and now the Wolves have more resources.

The Wolves hate when we compare the current operation to those in the bad old days.

They should love it.

Flip Saunders was an excellent coach and savvy GM.

Thibodeau was a good coach who shouldn’t have been a GM.

Rick Adelman was a great coach running out of energy.

Kevin McHale was a basketball genius who didn’t want to do the hard work.

Dwane Casey was a good coach who didn’t get a fair shot.

Other than that, the Wolves have largely been run by people who were either overmatched, or were unqualified to hand out orange slices at halftime of an AAU game.

This? This is … different.

Connelly is a cross between a mad scientist and an expressionist painter. Chris Finch, the coach, is perfectly suited to this team and this market, because of his ability to build relationships even when he’s pushing buttons. Connelly has helped build a deep, talented front office.

Most important, this will be the best roster in Wolves history, surpassing last year’s.

How about this for a rotation? Edwards, Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Mike Conley, Randle, Naz Reid, DiVincenzo, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dillingham, Joe Ingles, Shannon and, what the heck, Luka Garza or Leonard Miller.

The Wolves lose a little frontcourt length and gain depth, versatility, muscle and money.

By trading half the franchise for Gobert, Connelly proved he had guts, and was willing to go against the grain in a league that had devalued traditional centers.

By trading to get the eighth pick in the draft and taking Dillingham, Connelly proved he possesses creativity.

By trading Towns for Randle and DiVincenzo, he proved he’s playing 3D chess while everyone thinks he’s playing Wordle.

No one saw this coming, yet this trade is exactly the kind of deal we should have expected from the Stealth Bomber.