Karl-Anthony Towns’ future with the Timberwolves could hinge on the franchise’s fraught ownership battle. 

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst suggested this week that Towns could be a casualty if the team changes hands from Glen Taylor to the group led by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez. 

“I do not think they would tear the team apart, however, I do think there’s a possibility if the ownership change took place that Karl Towns’ role would be re-evaluated,” Windhorst said on Monday’s episode of “The Hoop Collective” podcast. 

After their best season in two decades, the Timberwolves are facing a bit of a cap crunch this offseason. 

Without retaining free agents like Kyle Anderson, Jordan McLaughlin and Monte Morris, the Timberwolves are already well above the projected luxury tax line for the 2024-25 season. 

Most of their money is tied up well into the future, too. 

Anthony Edwards will make approximately $204.5 million — with a potential to hit $260 million — through the 2028-29 season.

Towns’ $221.1 million deal is up after the 2027-28 season while Rudy Gobert has a player option for the 2025-26 season for more than $46 million. 

And that’s not to mention Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid, who are also on long-term contracts. 

The franchise’s cap crossroads comes as the ownership situation is coming to a head. 

In 2021, Taylor, 83, agreed to sell his majority ownership stake in the team to Rodriguez and Lore in a plan that called for a three-year succession plan ending this year.

Earlier this year, Taylor announced that the Timberwolves were no longer for sale, claiming that Lore and Rodriguez missed a payment deadline in the purchase agreement, which the two would-be buyers have denied.

The team’s fate, according to The Athletic, is being determined by a three-person arbitration panel. 

Timberwolves brass — whichever side owns the team — could opt to run this group back after the franchise’s best season in two decades. 

Minnesota went 56-26 and made the Western Conference Finals — both firsts since 2003-04 — before falling to the Mavericks in five games.