Former first overall pick and current Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns has always talked about playing with rising star D’Angelo Russell.

Back in the 2015 NBA draft, Towns and Russell were selected back to back as the number one and two overall picks. The Lakers drafted Russell, and he has grown to become one of the league’s best point guards. On February 6th, Towns got his wish to play with one of his good friends. The Timberwolves traded small forward and all-star Andrew Wiggins and first and second round draft picks in the 2021 draft to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for D’Angelo Russell.

According to ESPN, the 23-year-old star was averaging a career high 23.6 points per game with the Warriors. Russell, who was previously traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Warriors still has three years left on his $117 million contract. Wiggins was in his second year of his five year, $140 million dollar contract. The Timberwolves have been looking for a point guard for a while now to link with Towns, and although Wiggins is an all-star, he has never been that guy that’s all over “SportsCenter” and the news, unlike Russell.

After Russell was traded, Towns said in an interview, “He’s our guy, Russell has been a guy I’ve known for a while and we came into the league together, He’s exactly the type of point guard we need to push us to win championships.” Well, championships are going to have to wait till next year. The Timberwolves lost 13 games in a row before they traded for Russell and had  a 16-37 record going into the All-Star Break. It may be too late this year, but the future’s looking bright for the Timberwolves.

One fan, MCC student Nolan Unger, has a positive view of the team’s future.  “ I think this trade gives the Timberwolves young team a huge future,” said Unger. “Russell is the type of player that you can build a franchise around, and with the addition of Towns and other young players, the Timberwolves have an extremely bright future and could be contenders one day.”

This is a good and beneficial trade. The Timberwolves have never been a real talk team when it comes to winning NBA championships, but in the next year years, I think they will start to be in that conversation. The Timberwolves have struggled this year, but I think that could turn out to be a good thing. They will get a top five draft pick and could possibly draft a new star, and it gives Russell time to settle into Minnesota life without worrying about the playoffs until next year. This could be the beginning of a dynasty in Minnesota, watch out NBA, here comes the Twolves.