If you pay attention to Minnesota sports, you might have heard some unfortunate rumors about your Minnesota Timberwolves. In the world of fake news, the 24/7 news cycle, and “sources” constantly looking for their next successful Tweet, one quote can be completely blown out of proportion. That is exactly what happened to Zach Lowe and Brian Windhorst on “Lowe Post”, Zach Lowe’s NBA podcast.
The two respected NBA media members were chatting on the podcast about what the offseason might bring. The topic was: Which key player could the Boston Celtics add to become a perennial championship contender? Zach Lowe mentioned that there seems to be a riff between management and the players in Minnesota and that maybe there was a deal for them to make. Brian threw out the hypothetical that the Celtics could target Karl-Anthony Towns.
Keep in mind that they did not claim to have “sources” and were not trying to make headlines. They were simply two guys who love talking about the NBA and fun potential scenarios.
This harmless conversation stemmed countless headlines claiming that a trade was basically unavoidable and that KAT had played his last game in a Wolves jersey. “News sites” even pointed to an old photo of KAT in a Suns jersey as evidence that it was over.
Zach Lowe joined The Bill Simmons Podcast and wanted to clear the air. Bill started off with his spicy hot take: “Karl-Anthony Towns will get traded by Minnesota.”
Zach, clearly annoyed, implored listeners to actually listen to his words. He said “Don’t believe it…. All I said in that entire segment was things aren’t great internally, which I meant to apply to the entire Timberwolves franchise and I cited [Wolves beat writer] Darren Wolfson’s comments on a recent podcast…”
Now, as a quick side note, it is not comforting in any way that the “entire Timberwolves franchise” is having difficulties internally. Respected sources have confirmed that there are issues to work out among ownership, management, and the players. However, no credible media members have reported that the Wolves have even considered trading KAT (or Butler for that matter).
Lowe did go on to say that he has heard they are open to trading Andrew Wiggins, since they will not be able to afford 3 max players. I 100% endorse this opinion and believe that the Wolves will aggressively look to do. And be careful; that is strictly an opinion and has no factual evidence (other than his lackluster performance all year, his terrible contract, and the cap crisis the Wolves are facing).
Now, the whole point of this column is to encourage you to not believe everything you read. Do your research before you riot. Understand the difference between opinion and fact. I know in this age it is not easy to find the truth. There are way too many non-credible “news sites” that only care about fake headlines, getting clicks, and ad revenue.
But as the great Abraham Lincoln wisely stated, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”
As always, feel free to send me an email at jwandersee@heraldjournal.com any time during the week if you have a topic, opinion, observation, or snide remark for me.