This may be the worst Karl-Anthony Towns trade idea yet

The odds of Minnesota trading KAT before the season seem very, very low.

May 28, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) reacts to his fifth foul against the Dallas Mavericks during the fourth quarter of game four of the western conference finals for the 2024 NBA playoffs at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

There's probably a non-zero chance that Karl-Anthony Towns winds up getting traded by the Timberwolves before the 2024-25 season, but it's realistically probably something like 1%.

Head coach Chris Finch has repeatedly said he's excited to have the top seven guys from last season back for a chance to run it back after reaching the Western Conference Finals. Like, he said it earlier this week in a chat with Minnesota sports reporter David Shama.

“I am extremely confident everyone is back. We’re very fortunate to have our top seven players under contract,” Finch told Shama. "We’re coming off a great season. We have strong team identity —which we’re looking forward to being able to add to, not detract from.”

Regardless, the speculation machine that is Bleacher Report keeps churning out wild trade ideas. The latest idea has Towns being traded to the Clippers in a three-team deal that sees Brooklyn deal Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith to Minnesota.

That's not all. The Wolves would also get Terance Mann from the Clippers and a 2030 second-round pick because, you know, why not sweeten the pot in a hypothetical trade...

Here's how the full hypothetical trade shakes out:

Timberwolves receive: Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Terance Mann, and a 2030 second-round pick

Nets receive: Norm Powell, Kobe Brown, Bones Hyland, P.J. Tucker, a 2031 first-round pick (unprotected, via Clippers), and a 2031 second-round pick (via Clippers)

Clippers receive: Karl-Anthony Towns

The basis of the idea is an assumption that Minnesota will want to eventually shed salary to avoid the penalties that come with being over the apron of the NBA luxury tax. It's true that trading Towns or Rudy Gobert makes the most sense to shed salary.

Johnson is due $23.6 million in 2024-25 and he's signed for $21 million and $23 million in 2025-26 and 2026-27. Finney-Smith will make $14.9 million next season and he has a player option worth $15.3 million in 2025-26. Mann is due $11.4 million next season before becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Add it all up and the Wolves would be shedding Towns' $49.2 million salary next season and taking in about $50 million from the contracts of Johnson, Finney-Smith and Mann. That doesn't help the Wolves avoid the second apron of the luxury tax in 2024-25, but it would help in future seasons.

From a competitive standpoint, the Wolves would be adding depth with Finney-Smith and Mann while Johnson would project as the starting power forward, though he is a clear downgrade from Towns from an offensive perspective and that's problematic for a Timberwolves team that has put an emphasis on improving its offense to better complement the league's No. 1 defense.

Player	PPG	REB	AST	FG%	3FG%
Towns	21.8	8.3	3.0	50.4	41.6
Johnson	13.4	4.3	2.4	44.6	39.1

At the end of the day, the trade doesn't make a lot of sense for Minnesota. Throw it in the scrap heap...