Two days after Ingram completed the signing, the long-awaited news was finally announced.
On July 3, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves reached an agreement. The Timberwolves will send their star player, Karl-Anthony Towns, the 2015 No. 1 pick, to the Timberwolves in a mid-season trade. He averaged 20.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game in 14 games.
16-year rookie Malik Beasley, 19-year rookie Jarrett Culver and four future first-round draft picks were exchanged from the Lakers for Wang Feng and 19-year rookie Jordan Poole.
Once this news was announced, it immediately caused violent shock in the alliance.
Towns is a well-known and extremely talented player, and his name is almost indispensable when talking about inside players in today's league.
Antetokounmpo, Jokic, Big Eyebrow, Embiid, and then there is Towns.
As a well-known space-shooting power forward, Towns is like the right answer for the inside in the small ball era. In his five career seasons, he averaged 53.4% field goal percentage, 39.6% three-point shooting rate, and 22.7 points per game.
The efficient double-double data of 11.8 rebounds demonstrates the strength of this inside player.
The only pity is Towns' performance as a team leader.
In the past few seasons since the Timberwolves selected Towns and traded for Wiggins and his partner, the Timberwolves have only made the playoffs in one season, and that was the 17-18 season when Butler joined.
Therefore, Towns has always been questioned as lacking leadership skills and not being a player of sufficient strength.
However, in fact, this kind of thing becomes clear just by comparing it.
Excluding Giannis Antetokounmpo, whose playing style is more like that of an outside shooter, the current records of several top insiders in the league as of the 2019-20 season are as follows.
Anthony Davis, the brother with thick eyebrows, has only played in the playoffs twice with the Pelicans. They were swept in the first round of the 14-15 season, and in the 17-18 season with DeMarcus, who is also an All-Star.
During the period when Cousins formed the Twin Towers combination.
Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets to participate in the playoffs twice, 18-19 and 19-20 respectively.
The great Joel Embiid has the most experience in the playoffs among the few people, having participated in three games in total.
However, considering that the 76ers have a relatively luxurious lineup, including No. 1 pick Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris who averages 20+ points per game, plus the fact that the 76ers are relatively less competitive in the Eastern Conference in the playoffs, it is more
It’s not surprising to attend two.
From this point of view, it is not so unacceptable that Towns has only participated in the playoffs once.
After all, Towns' predecessor Love never even made it to the playoffs with the Timberwolves.
Trading Wang Feng for Towns is definitely a loss for the Lakers, but there is nothing they can do about it. Wang Feng's departure is a foregone conclusion, and the bargaining chip provided by the Timberwolves is already the best compared to other teams.
A top star in the league, two young players who are not too old and still have potential, plus four first-round picks.
With these resources in hand, the Lakers have a lot of room for maneuver.
On the other side, the Timberwolves, who almost emptied their fortune to acquire Wang Feng, do not seem so worthless.
Even if the combination of Wang Feng, Wiggins and Edwards, the two No. 1 picks, cannot become the favorite to win the championship, it should not be a big problem to help the Timberwolves return to the playoffs, at least in the eyes of most outside media commentators.
The deal was conducted on a sign-and-trade basis. Wang Feng first signed a three-year contract with the Lakers worth US$120 million, with an average annual salary of US$40 million over three years and a player option in the third year.
In fact, if Wang Feng can sign a five-year long-term contract with the Lakers, the contract salary can reach an astonishing 226 million for five years.
Therefore, no one understands yet why Wang Feng gave up on the Los Angeles Lakers, which had a strong lineup and could give him a super-maximum contract and had the highest exposure in the league. Instead, they left the Los Angeles Lakers with a dilapidated lineup and were at the bottom of the league.
The Minnesota Timberwolves winning the No. 1 pick?
Is it really for the mess he mentioned and for targeted poverty alleviation?
No matter what, once the deal is concluded, everything becomes a fait accompli.
Lakers fans are extremely disappointed. They originally thought that under the leadership of Wang Feng, the Lakers would soar to the sky and continue to win several championships in the next few seasons, creating a dynasty for the Purple and Gold Lakers.
However, their disappointment did not accumulate for long. General manager Magic Johnson immediately brought them a big deal!
On July 5, the Lakers reached an agreement with the New Orleans Pelicans. The Lakers sent Jimmy Butler, Kyle Kuzma, two protected first-round picks from the Timberwolves and one of their own first-round picks from the Pelicans.
The New Orleans Pelicans acquire All-Star big man Anthony Davis.
This transaction shocked the league.
The Lakers directly formed the top two-tower combination of Davis + Towns, and there is also Ingram with great potential on the outside.
As soon as Wang Feng left the team, Butler, his right-hand man, was immediately kicked out of the Lakers.
Butler's playing style and statistics are of a type that is inconspicuous and easily overlooked. If it weren't for Wang Feng, the Lakers would not even have paid the maximum salary to renew Butler's contract last season.
Now that Wang Feng has chosen to leave, the Lakers have directly traded away this meritorious player who has won two consecutive championships with the Lakers without any pretense.
However, if Butler can be exchanged for Davis, the thick-browed brother, the Lakers' deal is worth the money in everyone's eyes.
In the new season, the Lakers will have the most luxurious inside configuration in the entire league. At the same time, they will also have Ingram on the outside who can steadily contribute 20+ points per game. Next, they only need to use the draft picks on hand to make some small-scale transactions to strengthen.
By improving other positions, the Lakers' strength will not drop much compared to Wang Feng's period.
…
In the next few days, the league has been conducting various transactions and contract renewals.
Chris Paul was traded to the Suns by the Thunder like another time and space. The Suns' combination of Paul + Booker + Ayton will become a strong team next season.
On the other side, on the Houston Rockets' side, Westbrook's recruitment failed completely.
Harden and Westbrook do not complement each other very well. While both of them need a lot of the ball, they are also like colanders on the defensive end, occupying huge salary space, but the effect of 1+1 is less than 2.
The Los Angeles Clippers saw the opportunity and struck decisively, sending the best sixth man Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and DeAndre Jordan to the Rockets in a package, acquiring Westbrook, who was regarded as a liability by the Rockets.
.
This is also a huge deal that is enough to shock the league.
When many people saw this news, they couldn't help but exclaimed.
Lou Williams + Harrell + DeAndre Jordan can get Westbrook? Not even a first-rounder is needed?
Although Westbrook's personal data during the Rockets period has shrunk significantly compared to that during the Thunder period, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Last season, Westbrook still averaged 27+8+7 per game in the regular season, but he only entered the playoffs.
His game performance plummeted to 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
In another time and space, Westbrook completed the swap with Wizards All-Star guard John Wall, and the Rockets also received an additional protected first-round pick in 2023.