In a news conference to announce his super-max extension on Friday, Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns said he is fully aware of the expectations the team has going forward after trading a huge amount assets for three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy. Gobert.
“Championship or bust,” Towns said.
He elaborated further after the press conference.
“When you do the trade we did, that’s the reality. I’m not trying to sugar coat,” Towns told The Star Tribune’s Michael Rand. “You have to think about that. That’s really what’s on the table. I don’t think the fans will accept it [a goal of] a third round elimination. … Let’s be real. The standards are high. The pressure is high. And that’s when we should all love playing basketball even more.”
As Rand writes, the idea that Minnesota would have such lofty goals even last summer, after a disappointing season in which the team finished 23-49, 13th in the West, might have seemed preposterous.
But things change quickly in the NBA, Rand notes. The Wolves won 46 games last season and reached the playoffs for the second time in 18 years, and now, after acquiring a four-time All-NBA center, the bar for success has been raised by spectacular way
New basketball president Tim Connelly said he was grateful Towns was so eager to recommit to the only franchise he’s ever known.
“For Karl, he’s seen a lot of tough days,” Connelly said, per Rand. “It was really exciting to hear how excited he was about Finchy (head coach Chris Finch) and his teammates and how quickly he was willing to do it.”