On Friday afternoon, All-Star forward Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers agreed to a three-year, $186 million maximum contract extension, keeping him in LA through 2028.
Davis’ extension becomes the newest installment in what has been a very expensive off-season in the NBA. Supermax and max contracts have been becoming increasingly common. Most notably, Jaylen Brown signed a five-year, $304 million supermax extension to remain with the Boston Celtics – making his deal the richest in NBA history. However, Davis’ estimated $62 million annually makes his contract the richest AVV (annual average value) of all time in the NBA.
You and I can look at these contracts and go, Man, that’s just a lot of money. However, these massive deals have led to some scuffles in the NBA world. Sure, a case could be made saying Brown’s skill set isn’t worth an average of around $61 million per season. But that doesn’t matter. As everything around us gets more expensive – from eggs and milk to leasing a house or car – so does the payroll in pro sports.
Last summer, we saw the first of these new supermax contracts get rolled out to Karl-Anthony Towns as he inked a four-year, $224 million extension. Similar to Brown’s deal, some people strongly believe that Towns’ skill set didn’t warrant that type of money. However, after seeing what AD just raked in and the growing NBA market as a whole, some Minnesota Timberwolves fans should change their outlook on KAT’s deal.
After tying up Towns for the foreseeable future, Tim Connelly expressed some high praise for KAT’s future at the press conference following the extension last summer.
Great day for the team, obviously. We all see how talented a player [Towns] is. But for the city and the state, his commitment to be a great teammate in the community is something pretty special. Karl has been through so much, and his unwavering commitment to this team and city is pretty impressive. His best days are certainly ahead of him. We can’t be any more excited about the team we’re going to see this fall.
As Connelly said, KAT’s commitment to not only his team but the state of Minnesota as a whole since the Wolves drafted him in 2015 has been great. After two All-Star appearances under his belt and becoming the first center to win the 3-point shooting challenge, there is no doubt about it – The Big Purr has some big skills to go along with his off-the-court endeavors.
However, because the Towns-led Wolves only have made the playoffs twice, many NBA fans, and a good chunk of Wolves fans, are still looking for more from the 27-year-old. As a result, his generational talent gets overlooked.
There’s no denying it; for Towns to take that next step, two things will need to happen.
1. He will need to enjoy relative health while having a well-constructed roster around him.
2. He has to be able to lead his team to a deep postseason run.
Both of those objectives can/will come true in time. However, time is something that KAT may be running out of after his massive extension
The NBA is getting very expensive, and so is Minnesota’s roster. After dumping over $440 million between Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, and Towns, along with Anthony Edwards’ maximum extension and the looming Jaden McDaniels deal, the Wolves are going to be cap-strapped. Hence why the team went out and made some team-friendly signings this summer.
The NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement makes it difficult for teams to spend more money on their roster than other clubs. For the 2023-24 season, the first “apron” is set at right over $172 million. That means that teams that go over that mark will be penalized. For the Timberwolves, they have just over $2.2 million left to spend on their roster and one open space before the start of the coming season. However, the 2024-25 season is when the finances get really tight and almost impossible for Connelly and Co. to work around.
Towns’ supermax contract goes into effect in 2024-25. His dollar amount jumps up from $36 million annually to an estimated $49.7 million. After that, his contract will only grow until KAT becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2028.
Here’s a look at Towns’ projected supermax contract, provided by spotrac.com.
The same goes for Anthony Edwards. His max contract will commence in 2024-25 when Edwards goes from making $13.5 million this season to $35 million in 2024-25. Similar to Towns, Ant’s deal will only get larger. By the year 2028, he will be pulling in $46.8 million annually, according to spotrac.com.
Financially, it will be tough to keep KAT around long term. However, increasingly more teams will be running into similar problems as the NBA keeps getting more expensive. Hopefully, Connelly and his staff will be able to work their magic and keep the Towns, Edwards, McDaniels, and Reid core together for the next 7+ years. If not, we may be looking at a KAT-less Timberwolves team.
