The Minnesota Timberwolves traded center Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks over the offseason to give the team flexibility to compete around guard Anthony Edwards longer than just the next two years, according to The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski.

Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns were never necessarily the perfect match, but they were two perennial All-Stars playing for an organization that had never made an NBA Finals and whose last (and only) division title was in 2004.

Forty-four of Minnesota’s 51 points in the fourth quarter and overtime Monday in Oklahoma City came in the paint or at the free-throw line.