Utah Jazz: 3 Karl-Anthony Towns trades the team could get involved with

Karl-Anthony Towns vs Utah Jazz (Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports)

Even Utah Jazz fans were likely to take notice of some broader, online NBA drama that took place on Tuesday. It isn’t every day that an NBA superstar incites widespread speculation about his future with his current team with a simple, one-word, three-letter tweet. Tuesday was not every day for Karl-Anthony Towns and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Wolves shocked the NBA world on Tuesday by announcing the firing of General Manager Gersson Rosas. Speculation about the ownership group’s reasoning is quickly resembling pure gossip. Here at the J-Notes, we’ll leave that discussion for those who are inclined to have it.

We’re more concerned with how the Utah Jazz can get in on the fun.

Of course, any trade rumor involving Towns is largely speculative in its own right. The NBA superstar has not demanded a trade. Still, his reaction to Tuesday’s news about Rosas has to trigger some warning bells amidst Timberwolves fans. Somehow, this didn’t feel like a rare case of a celebratory “wtf”.

Let’s pretend that a Karl-Anthony Towns trade is inevitable. How can the Utah Jazz capitalize on their divisional rival’s misfortune? In all likelihood, a trade for KAT is itself out of the question: for starters, the Jazz already employ an All-NBA caliber starting center. Furthermore, the team doesn’t have enough future-focused assets to make a move for the superstar, in the absence of Donovan Mitchell. That should be a non-starter.

Still, with a little imagination, there are ways that the Utah Jazz can snag an invite to the KAT trade party. Here are three hypotheticals deals in which the Jazz get involved as the third team in a deal and improve their bottom line.