Karl-Anthony Towns and the Timberwolves are ‘not in a good place internally.’ Uh oh.

The Minnesota Timberwolves made their first playoff appearance since 2004 this spring, but all is not well in Minneapolis. Reports of internal struggles have emerged since the team’s five-game first-round loss to the Houston Rockets.

And the biggest problem threatening to ruin the franchise’s revival involves all-star center Karl-Anthony Towns.

ESPN analysts Zach Lowe and Brian Windhorst kicked off what could be a summer of speculation on The Lowe Post podcast last Friday. According to Lowe, Towns and the franchise are “not in a good place internally.”

Windhorst later added “I don’t think Anthony Davis is going anywhere any time soon, but Towns … now that might be a different story.”

If these reports prove to be anything more than internal venting after a definitive playoff loss, the Wolves could suddenly be the center of what should be a wild offseason trade market. Towns has averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds per game in his three seasons as a pro and has lived up to the expectations that came with being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 Draft. With a burgeoning three-point shot and the athleticism to handle the inside-out duties that come with the new era of NBA big men, he’d be a boon to any of the 29 other rosters in the league.

Towns said all the right things publicly after his team’s first-round loss to the top-seeded Rockets, brushing aside his early struggles with positivity and returning to his regular season form late in the series.

However, there’s enough behind-the-scenes chatter to suggest there’s weight behind these ESPN rumors. The Timberwolves had to battle their way to the west’s No. 8 seed despite high expectations after adding Jimmy Butler to the roster last offseason. While Minnesota was able to record a 47-win season, its most successful since 2004, that also led the team to a waiting buzzsaw against the 65-win Rockets. Towns struggled against a mashup of double-teams and the long-armed defense of Clint Capela, taking just 18 total shots as his Wolves fell into an 0-2 start in Houston. Three games later, his season was finished.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau, who also acts as the team’s de facto general manager, fired three members of the coaching staff in May, including Vince LeGarza, a player development coach who had worked closely with Towns throughout his NBA career. That’s led to grumblings Thibodeau is ruffling feathers in a play to “have the strongest relationship with Towns,” ESPN 1500’s Darren Wolfson noted in The Scoop podcast.

If Towns asks out, Thibodeau could move on with a core of Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins — the latter of whom has reportedly expressed his displeasure for playing third banana in the Wolves’ offense — and whomever came back to Minneapolis via trade.

There are a handful of teams that could offer the young pieces needed to acquire a player of Towns’ caliber. The Suns could ship this year’s No. 1 overall pick north as part of a package for the young all-star. The Magic could offer the No. 6 pick and Nikola Vucevic to help keep Minnesota’s big man rotation stocked. The Lakers could kick-start their rebuild by putting together a deal around former No. 2 overall pick Brandon Ingram and other pieces. If Towns is on the market, he’ll command a litany of offers.

Plus, if the past 29 years of Timberwolves history have taught us anything, it’s to expect the worst in Minnesota.

First off, Towns hasn’t been irked enough by the Wolves to make a public statement about his discontent. All we have to go on so far are rumors and reports. There are no current plans to trade the superstar center and Minnesota, in all likelihood, will work to keep things that way for as long as possible.

Towns is under contract for two more seasons, and then can retain him as a restricted free agent in 2020-21 if the two sides can’t reach an extension agreement in the meantime. That’s up to three years of team control, which is plenty of time to iron out any issues between the young player and the only team he’s ever known as a pro. With that in mind, there’s a chance he outlasts Thibodeau in the Great White North — and that could solve one of his biggest reported concerns straight away.

Bottom line: In NBA cases involving a personality conflict with the star and the coach, the star almost always wins. And that’s assuming there’s even real smoke to this fire.

That long lead time benefits the Wolves in two big ways. Not only does it give the team a wide-open window to massage the situation with Towns and keep him at the Target Center, but it also drives up the asking price for Towns if the two sides can’t meet in the middle and the Wolves do elect to move him. Anyone acquiring the Minnesota this center isn’t taking a one-year gamble on an All-Star before he’s set to hit free agency, like the Thunder did in 2017 by acquiring Paul George. That team control gives the club a much better opportunity to find equal value on the trade market -- an especially important piece of the puzzle as the price for superstars has declined in recent years.

3/10. Towns may be unhappy, but Minnesota has the entire offseason to figure out some common ground with its star. And all of next offseason. And, probably, the 2020 offseason as well.

That’s plenty of time to fix the frustration that comes after a player’s first playoff loss, and the Wolves will be able to point to their recent renaissance as a strong reason to keep building in Minnesota. While Thibodeau may listen to trade offers, the idea of parting with a 22-year-old seven-footer who averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds per game while shooting 42.1 percent from three-point range should be far too much for the Wolves to seriously consider this summer.

But you never know with these things.