How much do you think Anthony Edwards is missing Karl Anthony Towns right now? KAT wasnt valued during his stay in Minnesota. Letting him go to keep Gobert was one of the dumbest management decisions of all time.
Often times, people see on KAT is his weakness in defending the perimeter, and it out-shadows his ability to stretch the floor through his 3-pt shots.
I guess with what's happening with both New York and Minnesota right now, we are seeing who's the clear winner on this trade already. Right after the trade happens, many said here that it was an equal trade since both teams got an all-star in exchange, but NYK right now is performing better than Minnesota if we will compare their performance last season and this season. The management doesn't want to let go of KAT, but it's because of his contract that forced them to do so. As for choosing Gobert to stay is a gamble for them, and seeing KAT being weak on defending the perimeter, it's pretty obvious that they will choose Gobert. I mean he's a 4x Defensive of the year.
Was it the dumbest management decisions? It is one, but the dumbest for me is not keeping Gobert, but getting Gobert in general.
Are we sure it out-shadows though? I mean we do see KAT putting so much into his gameplay, and yes his perimeter defense is almost non-existent, and on this day and age, everyone plays like that, so it's quite important to realize maybe he needs more, but at the same time he is stretching the floor like a proper five these days, and that's what teams require.
So, I think it's definitely a big deal, and I believe that they are happy with the trade as well. Of course he is not a superstar, nobody expects him to go out and score 30 every night and grab 10 boards and shoot 6-7 threes and make 3 of them. That would be a superstar level and KAT isn't one, but he is definitely a good core player for some championship team, if you build good around him.
