Anthony Davis made waves last season by requesting a trade from the New Orleans Pelicans just three years into his five-year, $127 million deal. It was another loss for small-market teams in the NBA and left everyone wondering who will be the next superstar to force a trade for brighter lights and bigger cities. Everyone has the summer of 2021 circled as the next time we could see that happening with reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo hitting the free agency market, but another name that should be included on that list is Karl-Anthony Towns. 

Towns and Minnesota agreed on a five-year, $190 million extension before the start of the 2018-19 season. It was during a time of turmoil for the franchise when Jimmy Butler requested a trade from Minnesota, ultimately leading the Timberwolves to trade him to the Philadelphia 76ers for Dario Saric and Robert Covington. The deal with Towns signaled a sigh of relief for a franchise that has a history of losing its cornerstone stars to championship contenders. However, with Davis forcing his way out of New Orleans last season, time may not be on the Wolves' side.

There's no need to hit the panic button immediately in Minnesota. Towns has said himself that he's planning on being there for a long time, which sounds great in theory but players change their mind all the time; Kyrie Irving, Davis and Paul George come to mind. Towns' extension kicks in this season, which means the Wolves are officially on the clock to get their talented big man some help instead of wasting his prime. 

During Towns' first four years in the league, the Wolves made the postseason just once and have not made the right moves to build around him. The Butler trade only brought dysfunction and stunted growth for players like Towns and Andrew Wiggins, and playoff appearance aside, the Wolves have played truly uninspired basketball. The team has ranked in the bottom half of the league three out of the last four years when it comes to pace of play. It also allowed 114 points a game last season, seventh-worst in the league. 

It's not all negative, though. Minnesota got value back from the Butler trade in Robert Covington and flipped Saric on draft night for No. 6 overall pick Jarrett Culver in a take-the-best-player-available-over-positional-need scenario. Covington is the prototypical 3-and-D wing, who will be working back from a knee injury, which kept him out of 45 games last season. Culver is only 19 and has the potential to be one of the best players from the 2019 draft.

Covington, Culver and last year's rookie standout Josh Okogie are all quality players. However, looking up and down the Wolves' roster, its lacking an adequate running mate to share the spotlight with Towns. Wiggins was projected to become that after Minnesota gave him a five-year, $147.7 million extension that kicked in last season, but that hasn't come to fruition. His shooting numbers have only declined since his second year in the league, and as he enters his sixth season, there are still questions about his effort on defense and whether he is one of the players Minnesota should be building around.

After missing out on D'Angelo Russell during free agency this summer, the Wolves played the rest of the offseason conservative. They signed players to mostly one-year deals with the intention to remain flexible to sign a max player during the 2020 offseason, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. While it's smart to recognize that Minnesota is no better than an eighth seed in the always-loaded Western Conference this season, every year the Wolves don't make the playoffs is another reason for Towns to leave. 

The 2020 free agency class doesn't spark a lot of excitement either. If Davis re-signs with the Lakers, the biggest name on the list is Pascal Siakam, who is a restricted free agent and will likely get a max deal from Toronto. After that, the rest of the class is filled with role players at best, none of the which seem like the last missing piece to push this Wolves team into the playoffs.

If they made one right move this offseason, it was replacing Tom Thibodeau with Gersson Rosas as the new team president of basketball operations. Rosas spent the last 17 years helping build the Houston Rockets into one of the top teams in the league, and has already admitted that he and coach Ryan Saunders have something to prove this upcoming season. Rosas also knows how difficult it is to sign and keep elite players.

"The reality is that if you want to win, you want to have success, you need high-end, special players," Rosas said via The Athletic. "They're hard to acquire. You have to pay a strong premium for them. And if you don't have the resources, you don't have the flexibility, you don't have the assets, you're not going to be in play."

Minnesota has the assets to pair Towns with another All-Star, with players like Culver, Okogie and Jeff Teague's expiring deal. The question is how long can the Wolves wait to make a sizable move before Towns starts questioning his future in Minnesota.