The New York Knicks have had a busy offseason, acquiring Mikal Bridges on a massive deal with the Brooklyn Nets, re-signing OG Anunoby, and extending superstar guard Jalen Brunson. Most of the league is finished making their moves in the market and teams are surveying their rosters as Summer League wraps up, but the offseason is not over.
Karl-Anthony Towns continues to be linked to the Knicks
Rumors surrounding the idea of the Knicks landing Minnesota Timberwolves superstar center Karl-Anthony Towns have surfaced over the past two years, and with the team ready to catapult into title contention, those rumors are only continuing to circulate. The Wolves just had their best season in two decades, being the West’s third seed and reaching the Western Conference Finals. There is currently no indication that any of Minnesota’s core pieces are on the block, but they may need to move some of them due to financial constraints.
Towns is currently playing on a very lucrative contract that only gets more expensive with each passing season. He is expected to make about $49.2 million next season and that figure will reach $61 million by the 2027-28 season. As previously mentioned, Brunson’s extension was a cheaper one in which he left over $113 million on the table by signing the contract a year early, and doing so allowed the Knicks to avoid eclipsing the second apron.
They still have an extension to work out with All-Star Julius Randle as well, which is now more feasible after Brunson’s extension, but nothing is set in stone at this time.
A new mock trade sends a massive haul for Towns
Therefore, if the Knicks really want to bring in Towns, it would require a lot of moving parts to get him to the Big Apple. It likely means that Randle gets dealt elsewhere in the deal as well as a few additional rotation players. Sports Illustrated’s Rohan Raman suggested that a three-team trade would be the best option for a deal to get done, and included the Atlanta Hawks in a massive trade that would shift the current landscape of the NBA. The trade proposal by Raman reads as follows:
Hawks get:
- Miles McBride
- Jericho Sims
- 2025 2nd round pick (via Denver, via Minnesota)
- 2026 2nd round pick (via Indiana, via Minnesota)
Knicks get:
- Kobe Bufkin
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- 2027 1st round pick (via Milwaukee, via Atlanta)
- 2025 2nd round pick (via Minnesota)
Timberwolves get:
- Julius Randle
- Mitchell Robinson
- Bruno Fernando
- Garrison Mathews
- 2026 1st round pick (via New York, top 12 protected)
- 2030 1st round pick (via New York, top 7 protected)
Despite Towns’ talent level, he may not be the right guy for the Knicks to pursue
While the Knicks add an All-Star in exchange for another, their depth diminishes deeply by making this move, and they lose valuable size and physicality in the frontcourt by parting ways with Robinson. Towns’ talent level is like no other, as he is one of the best shooting bigs to walk on an NBA court, boasting a career three-point percentage of 39.8%. The idea of pairing him with Brunson could be an opposing defense’s nightmare, but is he the right guy for the Knicks to pursue?
As currently constructed, the Knicks already have one of the most well-rounded starting fives in the NBA. Brunson and Randle are two All-Stars capable of leading them to success, Bridges and Anunoby arguably are the two most versatile two-way wing players in the league and Robinson is their defensive anchor and rebound machine.
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The only way trading for Towns really makes sense is if the Knicks want to shed salary while still being competitive, as one could argue they are a more talented roster without him than they would be if they acquired him.
However, with Brunson’s historic extension as well as reports that Bridges is expected to take a similarly cheaper deal, both the players and the front office are clearly convinced that this current group of players can win a title. Breaking up the core before seeing how far they can go would be premature, and moving essential assets could backfire and set their championship timeline back.
As the offseason continues, rumors will likely continue to swirl, but could any of those rumors surrounding Towns come to fruition this summer? Or will the Knicks wait until next year to pull the trigger?
