The Wolves must decide whether they can trim salary without sacrificing team quality, and that is a challenging question in this case. As so few players outside of the starters make large amounts, there are not many options for deals there, so the choices get tough pretty quickly. Undoubtedly, the most fascinating of those is whether Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid would be able to step into Towns’ shoes as the starting power forward, and there is an argument that he can. In the stretch Towns missed in March and April, Reid averaged 17 points and seven rebounds on respectable efficiency as a starter. Towns’ disappointing help defense makes replacing him on that end much more manageable, especially with Gobert anchoring the defense. Still, theoretically parting with one of the league’s most intriguing 7-footers is a downgrade and even tougher to swallow for the team and fans alike if it is done primarily for financial reasons. Still, it is a path. -via New York Times / June 2, 2024
