Charles Barkley has some harsh words for the Minnesota Timberwolves big man tandem of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert. The NBA legend is simply not a believer of that particular frontcourt experiment in the Twin Cities, even calling the Gobert trade one of the “stupidest” ever made.

“[Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert] in Minnesota can't play together… You go get two guys over 7 feet tall in a little man's league and either one of them are good enough on the offensive end, they're not like Shaq” Barkley said of the Timberwolves duo.

Barkley offered his unapologetic comments amid the slow start to the season by Minnesota, which has only won one of its first three games of the 2023-24 NBA campaign. Although three games is a small sample size to make any concrete assessment of a team's outlook, Barkley has seemingly seen enough to declare the Towns-Gobert partnership a failure.

The Timberwolves sent shockwaves across the NBA in 2022 when they acquired Gobert via a trade with the Utah Jazz.

Gobert is one of the best defensive players in league history, but he's never been known for creativity nor for being a dominant force on the offensive end of the floor. Towns, on the other hand, is a gifted offensive force but somehow has not seen his tools and talent translate into significant playoff success in Minnesota.

The Timberwolves reached the 2023 MLB playoffs but were absolutely dominated in the first round by the Denver Nuggets, who have the big man every other team in the league covets in the form of Nikola Jokic.

Still, the Timberwolves have time to completely figure it out.