Karl-Anthony Towns: Anthony Edwards is going to be the face of the NBA

With both Edwards and Towns signing extensions that pay those two All-Stars a percentage of the 2024-25 salary cap, we don’t yet know Minnesota’s exact salary figures. Based on the current projection of a $141 million cap, Towns’ contract will start at $49.35 million (35% of the cap) and Edwards at $35.25 million (25%). Including Conley’s extension, that would give the Timberwolves $184.2 million in guaranteed salary for 2024-25 with just nine players under contract, a figure that’s already approaching the projected second apron of $190 million. There’s still one crucial wild card for Minnesota: whether Edwards makes All-NBA, in which case he’d qualify to increase his starting salary to 30% of the cap ($42.3 million). In that scenario, the Timberwolves would exceed the second apron before even filling out their roster. -via ESPN / February 23, 2024

Three years ago Wednesday, the Timberwolves replaced head coach Ryan Saunders with Chris Finch after a road loss on a Sunday night to the Knicks. In the early hours of Monday morning, when the chaos of what had just happened had quelled, Finch said he texted Karl-Anthony Towns, the franchise tentpole with whom he would have to form a good relationship if his first stint as NBA head coach would be a successful one. Finch sent the text with a tinge of uncertainty. He knew Towns and Saunders were close. Finch wasn’t sure how Towns might welcome him, or if Towns might hold it against Finch for replacing someone with whom he had such a strong bond. -via Minneapolis Star-Tribune / February 18, 2024

Towns could have ignored the text, maybe said he was asleep since it was so late. But he didn’t. “I said how excited I was to come work with him,” Finch said. “Then he called me right away.” Their relationship began with that call, and Finch was grateful for it then, and he remains that way nearly three years later. -via Minneapolis Star-Tribune / February 18, 2024

Ricky Rubio returned to action and the whole basketball world is happy, including Donovan Mitchell. Rubio was a mentor to him, as Mitchell said to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo and explained what Rubio means to the young NBA stars that he played with. As he said: “The most beautiful thing is to have been able to see him almost becoming a father, to see the gradual growth off the court. On the court, he has worked with me, Book (Booker), Ant (Anthony Edwards), Darius (Garland)… All Stars. Something I have to say is that he is like a guru in that sense, but seeing him grow as a person, his family, seeing how he has put it together in that way towards the end of his career… For me, it is a full circle moment”. -via EuroHoops.net / February 22, 2024

Kevin Durant on the upcoming Olympics: “I’m trying to play – I’m trying to play real minutes. I’m trying to be responsible and have a real role…And I’m excited about being around that USA bond, that brotherhood again, man. It is unmatched…[one v ones]s after practice is the best. It’s only going to get you better. So obviously Bron I’m going to want to play, and Kawhi, Kyrie, Steph, PG, the young dudes like Ant Edwards, Book, Tatum.” -via YouTube / February 20, 2024