Why Naz Reid Makes Karl-Anthony Towns Expendable

At 21.6 PPG on 60% true shooting, Karl-Anthony Towns is having a good season. However, he may be overqualified for his current role with the Minnesota Timberwolves. And since the Timberwolves have someone who can fill this void, that makes Towns expendable.

If you hadn’t already guessed from the thumbnail, that player is fan-favorite Naz Reid. This offseason, Reid signed a 3-year, 42-million dollar deal to remain with his current employer (even turning down a larger offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers).

With that in mind, what is this role we are alluding to?

Towns is one of the most versatile scoring bigs we’ve ever seen. But with Anthony Edwards’ emergence and Mike Conley there to provide secondary creation, the Timberwolves need the player in Towns’ position to “just” be a good spacer, closeout attacker, and a credible defender (in their elite defensive ecosystem). Towns can check all those boxes. But so can Reid – at a much cheaper rate (more on this in a second).

In general, you need space to create efficient offense. One of the biggest reasons the Indiana Pacers have the best offense in basketball right now is because they often field lineups where all five players can hit 3-pointers.

This is especially true in the playoffs when opposing defenses will literally ignore players they deem to be poor/weak shooters in order to add more resistance in the paint (see what the New York Knicks did to the Cavaliers last year).

He hasn’t ordained himself as the greatest shooting big man of all time yet, but Reid is a good floor spacer for his size. On the season, Reid is hitting 39.3% of his 4.4 threes per game. He’s also got solid spacing indicators. According to the Thinking Basketball database, Reid is in the 44th percentile on wide-open 3-point shooting efficiency (38%) while attempting them at a volume (4.2 threes per 36 minutes) that puts him in the 90th percentile over the last three years.

Reid also has some scoring versatility of his own. When defenses see a good spot-up shooter, they tend to aggressively closeout on them to run them off the 3-point line and force them into an awkward interaction inside the arc (a tactic known as the “fly-by closeout”).

That parlor trick doesn’t work on Reid. He’s a fluid mover who is comfortable with the ball in his hands in closeout attacking situations. This is evidenced by the fact that his true shooting on drives (59%) is in the 66th percentile league-wide.

We all are familiar with Towns’ defensive struggles. Reid isn’t a world-beater on that end either – his Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus has been right around neutral for most of his career – but he doesn’t need to be on this iteration of the team.

As we referenced earlier, Minnesota has elite defensive personnel. Between Jaden McDaniels, Edwards, Kyle Anderson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Shake Milton, and Troy Brown Jr., they have a bounty of skilled perimeter defenders and defensive playmakers. Then, to top it off, they have one of the best paint protectors in NBA history (*coughs* Rudy Gobert) as their last line of defense.

Reid just needs to avoid getting absolutely exposed. And thanks to his combination of size, length (his wingspan is measured at 7’3.25), and mobility, he’s much better suited to tread water on that end than the smaller guards who often get targeted on defense (like, say, Jordan Poole).

The sample size is small, but the early returns of Reid at the four spot on defense are promising. According to PBP Stats, when Gobert and Reid share the floor (114 minutes), the Timberwolves have a 102.2 defensive rating. For reference, the best team defensive rating in the league (currently owned by Minnesota) is 106.2.

While Towns is clearly the superior overall player (and probably better at filling this specific role), he’s earning roughly 36 million dollars this year (over 23 million dollars what Reid is earning) and is in the final year of his current contract. So, his annual value will likely only be increasing.

Normally, you don’t worry about paying a player of Towns’ caliber that kind of money. But on this specific team construct, with a player like Reid lurking in the shadows, it may make sense to move Towns for a less redundant player (who that would be is a different argument for a different article).

Regardless, the Timberwolves are good right now with Towns on the roster. And Towns is also good enough to command a sizable return if they decided they were going to move him. It’s a good problem to have, all things considered.

And this conundrum only further illustrates just how much of a luxury it is to have someone like Reid on your roster.