Former NBA Champion Says Towns, Wiggins Should Leave Timberwolves

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A former NBA player took to the national radio air waves Thursday morning to say he thinks current Timberwolves stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins should leave Minnesota at the first available opportunity.

John Salley spent most of his NBA career with the Detroit Pistons, won four championships and retired in 2000. He was on ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" show, featuring Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic.

Greenberg had a take that Towns, who unanimously won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award on Monday, is the "future of the NBA and people don't talk nearly enough about him." He also heard from an ESPN insider that the rookie season Towns had suggests he is a talent unlikely any we've seen before and is perhaps the best NBA prospect since LeBron James.

Salley had an interesting response.

"I would agree with that. I think he needs to get out of Minnesota. I think he and (Andrew) Wiggins need to get out of Minnesota."

Greenberg responded by saying, "Then why have a team in Minnesota?"

Salley's response: "I said the same thing when it was freezing cold and we had to go from building to building through a tube. I said why are we in Minnesota? It's a great football town, but I just don't think the league is going to go and buy Wolves jerseys. They're just not going to do it."

Salley added that he thinks Towns should be in a place that "literally gets more TV time and the NBA is more focused on. Those are the teams that are on the coast, that's the idea of it."

The 2016-17 season will mark the third for Wiggins in Minnesota and second for Towns. At Monday's Rookie of the Year news conference, Towns went out of his way to say how much he loves Minnesota, wants to be a Timberwolf and the city of Minneapolis matches his personality.

We'll find out how dedicated both are to the Timberwolves when it comes time to sign them to their second contracts.