The Minnesota Timberwolves looked like one of the winners of the summer when they made a blockbuster trade to land 3x Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert to pair him up with Karl-Anthony Towns. That was a big move, given how much Gobert brought to the table and the package the Timberwolves sent to Utah for the Frenchman.
The start of the season hasn’t been easy for them, and the T-Wolves are now a .500 team following a loss to the Phoenix Suns, who are 6-1 in comparison; everybody has voiced their concern over this team.
During the offseason, Karl-Anthony Towns claimed it was championship or bust for Minnesota, putting the bar in the sky for his team. So far, however, things haven’t worked for them. Even Anthony Edwards has talked about how difficult things are for him on the court with the big lineup.
Charles Barkley Takes A Big Shot At Timberwolves For Pairing Up Karl-Anthony Towns And Rudy Gobert
Ant isn’t the only one with a complaint about this team. Charles Barkley didn’t hold back against Minnesota, calling them idiots for putting two 7-footers together on the court. During Tuesday’s edition of Inside the NBA, Chuck went off on the Timberwolves.
"I hated that trade. It would have been fine in [my day]… They can't guard today's game. They’re not dominating on either end."
Charles Barkley on the Timberwolves trading for Rudy Gobert#NBATwitter #RaisedByWolves pic.twitter.com/PQyuq7emro
— 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧' 𝐍𝐁𝐀 (@_Talkin_NBA) November 2, 2022
“That’s because they got two 7-footers out there like idiots. Nice trade,” Barkley said after Tuesday night’s game. That was a hard rip in the postgame.
“I hated that trade. They can’t play the pick-n-roll. It would’ve been fine in our day,” Barkley said, adding that Minnesota’s big lineup “can’t guard today’s game” and “they’re not dominating in the paint offensively or defensively.”
Chuck mentioned the teams the Timberwolves will have to go through to compete for a championship (Suns, Clippers, and Warriors), pointing out a big difference between them and the T-Wolves.
“Who the teams they’re going to have to beat?” Barkley wondered.
“None of those guys got big dudes,” said Barkley. “So what good is it to have big two big dudes out there? They can’t guard 3-point shooters. I just didn’t like the trade at all.”
What initially looked like a solid trade for the Timberwolves has turned into a terrible move. They were expected to climb a couple of spots on the Western Conference leaderboard, but now, they’re going down. They need to find a solution quickly, or the trade will be considered a total disaster by the rest of the league.
