There are about 220 million valid ways to dissect the shocking trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York on the eve of NBA training camp.

There’s the unusual timing on both sides. For the Timberwolves, it was an abrupt severing of a core that lifted the franchise to new historic heights five months earlier. For the Knicks, it was a sudden change of direction shortly after plotting a clear strategic course that involved roster flexibility and a bunch of dudes who went to college together.

Then there’s the immediate impact on two title contenders to consider. The long-term ramifications for each team’s window. The questionable fit of Julius Randle in Minnesota. The substantial depth sacrificed by New York. The scoring punch of Donte DiVincenzo for a middling Timberwolves offense. The enormity of Towns joining a Knicks starting lineup that only needed a center. The financial uncertainty in Minnesota as an ownership war wages. The $220 million owed to KAT by New York as his supermax contract ages.

The list goes on. Seriously, it does.

This was a bonafide plot twist to the 2024 NBA offseason, worthy of M. Night Shyamalan. Now that the blockbuster trade is unofficially two weeks old, there’s been abundant time to process all the basketball and financial layers. And still, it feels like there’s just one aspect that matters in Denver.

The Timberwolves are no longer a nightmare matchup.

That doesn’t mean they can’t still beat the Nuggets in a series. And it doesn’t mean Denver is completely free of the matchup problem they presented in the first place. Nonetheless, the team that conquered the Nuggets is no longer the same, and that should lift a huge weight off the shoulders of Nikola Jokic.

Towns has been roundly critiqued over the years for his lapses in defensive maturity and propensity for committing avoidable fouls, but he was everything Minnesota needed him to be in the playoffs. He was often Jokic’s man-to-man matchup in the post, holding his ground against Jokic’s attempts to back him down and allowing Rudy Gobert to maximize his defensive prowess as a backside helper and rim protector. The double-big lineup was instrumental in Minnesota’s seven-game triumph over the defending champions.

The Nuggets’ starting lineup had averaged 125.9 points per 100 possessions during the regular season, in 958 minutes of playing time. No other five-man lineup in the NBA posted a higher offensive rating in more than 220 minutes. But against the Timberwolves, that same unstoppable Denver lineup was shockingly stifled in 136 minutes, finishing the second-round series with a 102.6 offensive rating.

Towns wasn’t the Wolves’ best individual defender by any stretch. But he was inseparable from the defensive identity that allowed them to prevail.

Now their double-big lineup options are limited to the duo of Gobert and Naz Reid, the league’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2023-24. Reid is an outstanding player in his own right, but Jokic has devoured him in the post. Minnesota might be better off guarding the three-time MVP more traditionally with Gobert, but that matchup historically hasn’t gone well for him either.

“We’re worried about us,” Nuggets coach Michael said when asked about the trade last week in Abu Dhabi. “We don’t concern ourselves with what’s going on outside of our gym. We’re just worried about the Denver Nuggets and what we try to do on a daily basis.”

Smart answer. Malone wasn’t about to step on a land mine and give Minnesota free bulletin board material. Jamal Murray took that line of thinking one step further when he was asked about the trade the day after it was first reported.

“What trade?” he responded.

“I’m not on social media,” the point guard went on to say after receiving the update. “… I just worry about us. I don’t really care about everybody else.”

Towns was also a problem on his better side of the floor, obviously. When Kentavious Caldwell-Pope struggled to contain Anthony Edwards, Malone responded by cross-matching the immensely versatile Aaron Gordon against Edwards. With the Timberwolves playing two centers, that often left Denver with a smaller defender stuck guarding KAT in the paint. His 23-point, 12-rebound Game 7 performance won’t soon be forgotten in Minnesota.

Throughout last season and especially during the playoffs, much was made of the notion that ex-Nuggets GM Tim Connelly constructed the Timberwolves to be a perfect antithesis to Denver. It strains credulity to some extent, simply because the timelines don’t add up. Connelly’s original trade for Gobert that established the center tandem took place in 2022, a year before the Nuggets went on their championship run.

Perhaps he possessed a greater understanding than most executives, owing to his close proximity to Denver, of what the Nuggets were about to become. But if that was truly the driving force behind the Timberwolves’ roster moves, they’ve suddenly abandoned it awfully fast.

Randle is Minnesota’s starting power forward. Connelly’s frontcourt is smaller.

Enter Sam Presti, whose unfinished product of a roster last season already accomplished something intimidating. The Thunder were the youngest No. 1 seed in NBA history. Then they threw $87 million at Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency. That philosophy on how to neutralize Jokic? It didn’t disappear from the league entirely. It just moved south.

Now it’s official. Oklahoma City has seemingly replaced Minnesota as the Western Conference contender that’s most threatening to Denver from a matchup standpoint. That’s the real plot twist of this offseason, accentuated by the KAT trade.

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault is in a flexible position. Hartenstein might not start most nights. There’s just too much talent to justify using a double-big lineup every night, regardless of matchup. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort and now Alex Caruso are standing by. (Dort and Caruso should be even more horrifying for Murray to deal with than Minnesota’s elite wing defenders.) And Chet Holmgren proved himself to be more than capable of holding down the fort as a center last season.

But some opponents might demand a different approach. A proven approach. If a defender as wobbly as Towns managed to help wreak so much havoc against Jokic, imagine what OKC can accomplish with two 7-footers who both have excellent reputations at that end of the floor. Hartenstein is the muscle. Holmgren is Gobert. The Nuggets could get an early look at that coverage next week when they host the Thunder in a preseason game — or a week later, for the season-opener at Ball Arena.

But, hey, at least Minnesota shouldn’t be able to effectively execute that coverage anymore.

Originally Published: October 13, 2024 at 5:45 a.m.

The stoicism that guided Chauncey Billups to Springfield, Mass., isn’t helping him ahead of his Sunday induction to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Billups has his speech written, but he’s missing some ruthlessness as he tries to fit it into the 7 minutes he is allotted.

“The problem is, I’m way over time, so I got to trim it down, and I just don’t know where, man,” Billups told reporters Tuesday.

“I’m about twice the amount that it should be.”

In Billups’ defense, there’s plenty to unpack. The proud Park Hill native was selected as a McDonald’s All-American from the high school class of 1995 and went on to earn more All-American honors over his two seasons at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

The Celtics selected Billups as the third pick in the 1997 draft, but his professional career didn’t get off to the smooth start typical of a future Hall of Famer. He was traded to the Raptors at the trade deadline during his rookie season.

Toronto wasn’t home for long. The Raptors traded Billups to his hometown Nuggets less than a year later, but it wasn’t exactly a storybook homecoming. Denver traded him to Orlando in February 2000, though a shoulder injury prevented him from ever playing for the Magic. Billups signed with the Timberwolves as a free agent ahead of the 2000-01 season. After a couple of years in Minnesota, Billups signed with the Pistons, with whom his persistence paid off.

Larry Brown, his coach for most of his time in Detroit, and Ben Wallace, a hall-of-fame Pistons teammate, are two of his presenters. Former WNBA player Tina Thompson, who Billups called a “very dear friend,” will join Brown and Wallace in presenting Billups during Sunday’s ceremony.

“No coach got more out of me than (Brown). He means so much to me. Not only my playing career but even now, he’s still leading me, teaching me, giving me ideas and giving me encouragement all of the time. … He’s just somebody that means a lot to me,” Billups said of Brown before moving on to Wallace.

“Him or I wouldn’t be there without each other. The run that we had in Detroit is a big deal. I was there watching him go in a few years ago. Obviously, that’s my brother.”

In his first season as a Piston, Billups averaged 16.2 points, a career-high at that point, and finished sixth in Most Improved Player voting. The King of Park Hill earned a new nickname — Mr. Big Shot — for his unflappability in the clutch with the Pistons. He lived up to the moniker, winning Finals Most Valuable Player when Detroit beat the Lakers to win the 2004 title. Billups made All-Defensive second team in 2004-05, his third season with the Pistons. Three All-Star seasons followed before he was traded back to Denver in exchange for Allen Iverson two games into the 2008-09 season.

Billups’ second stint back home lasted nearly three seasons before he was included in the trade that sent Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks.

“You look at his upbringing here in Denver and obviously CU and his NBA career and what he was able to do, I’m just very happy for him and his family. Class act,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Saturday.

“You’re always rooting for guys that have worn that Nuggets jersey that make their way into Springfield. Shoutout to Chauncey. Job well done.”

Billups’ playing career concluded following a half season with the Knicks, a couple of injury-plagued seasons in Los Angeles with the Clippers and his farewell season with the Pistons in 2013-14 before knee injuries led to his retirement.

Now, he’s using his matter-of-fact approach in coaching. He got started as a Clippers assistant and is entering his fourth season as the Trail Blazers’ coach. The weekend’s events will force Billups to miss Portland’s preseason game against Sacramento. The enshrinement ceremony will air on NBA TV, starting at 4 p.m. in Denver. Billups didn’t know when he was scheduled to speak or if the event would break down his stoic demeanor.

“I’m not the most emotional dude in the world, but this is an emotional – obviously – event,” Billups said.

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2024

Seimone Augustus

Dick Barnett

Chauncey Billups

Vince Carter

Doug Collins

Michael Cooper

Walter Davis

Harley Redin

Bo Ryan

Herb Simon

Charles Smith

Michele Timms

Jerry West

The Denver Broncos are looking to win four straight and put themselves in a great position for the second half of the season. Winning in the division is paramount if the Broncos want to make a push for the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Chargers aren’t going to just lay down, though. If the Broncos can achieve the bold predictions I’m laying out today, they’ll be in a good position to walk out with the win. 

This game is vital for the season, as a win puts the Broncos in a better spot in the AFC West. With a victory over the Chargers, the Broncos would be 2-0 in the division with four games left — prime position for a playoff spot.

That playoff spot could even be as division champs if they can beat the Kansas City Chiefs, who have been underperforming this season despite being undefeated. Let’s dive into my five bold predictions for Week 6.

The Chargers’ passing defense is weak, especially on attempts of 10-plus air yards. Bo Nix and the Broncos have struggled here, especially in the 10-19 air-yard range, but they find a way to get it done.

Nix is 16-51 on passes of 10-plus yards, and in this game, he adds 10 more completions to his total. The Broncos need to find more significant plays instead of focusing on shorter ones. It has worked to an extent so far, but eventually, that will run out. It is time they start putting things together offensively. 

Prediction: Nix completes at least 10 passes of 10-plus air yards. 

On the season, Sutton has 17 catches for 224 yards, with 68 yards as his season high. The Chargers have had issues working in coverage outside Kristian Fulton, who is injured but may play.

Sean Payton should move Sutton around and try to get him involved in the passing game early, which can help open up others for the passing game. 

Prediction: Sutton breaks 100 receiving yards. 

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The Chargers have severe issues with their interior offensive line, while Allen has had a monster start to his season. With four sacks on the season, Allen keeps up his momentum with another big day against the Chargers. 

Prediction: Allen picks up three sacks. 

With Justin Herbert likely still hobbled with a high-ankle sprain, the Chargers continue to struggle with their passing game. They can do well in the quick game, averaging 5.4 yards per pass play, but they only average 3.3 pass yards per play over 2.5 seconds.

The Broncos defense does well against the quick passing game while being the best against those longer plays. This almost wholly leads to them shutting down the Chargers’ passing game. 

Prediction: Chargers throw for less than 150 yards. 

Over the first five games, Mims has been missing in action and finally comes out in a big way to help the Broncos beat their divisional foe. 

Prediction: Mims scored a special teams touchdown. 

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