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Tim BontempsESPN
Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns has agreed on a four-year, $224 million supermax extension, his agent, Jessica Holtz of CAA Basketball told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The deal begins with the 2024-25 season and delivers Towns’ total contract value to six years and $295 million.
Towns, 26, the No. 1 overall pick by Minnesota in 2015, has become one of the league’s most dominant offensive big men during his eight years in Minnesota. He averaged 24.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game this past season while shooting over 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point range and 80% from the foul line.
That, coupled with Minnesota making the playoffs for the second time in Towns’ NBA career, helped the 6-foot-11 big man earn an All-NBA third-team selection, which made him eligible to secure this supermax extension.
The decision to extend Towns became a public show of support to the team’s star from its new president of basketball operations, Tim Connelly, whom Minnesota hired away from the Denver Nuggets last month.
Now that Towns is in the fold until 2028, Connelly and coach Chris Finch can continue to construct the roster around the team’s two young tentpole stars: Towns and second-year guard Anthony Edwards.
Their combined growth this season helped power Minnesota to the seventh seed in the West and a first-round matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies after the team’s victory in a play-in game versus the LA Clippers. The Timberwolves lost to Memphis in a hard-fought six-game series.
Now, Minnesota heads into this free-agency period with real momentum behind it thanks to the presence of Towns and Edwards on the roster, Connelly as the new head of basketball operations, and new owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, as the Timberwolves continue to flesh out what the next version of their team looks like.
So far this offseason, Minnesota has agreed to a two-year, $16 million extension with forward Taurean Prince, keeping him with the Timberwolves moving forward. They also have agreed to a two-year, $18 million deal with small forward Kyle Anderson, his agents Thad Foucher and Joe Smith of Wasserman Basketball told Wojnarowski.
Source: www.espn.com