The New York Knicks gave some to get some when they pulled off a blockbuster trade for star center Karl-Anthony Towns on Sept. 28, and one analyst was surprised at how many personnel around the league told him that the Knicks ended up getting the shorter end of the stick on the deal.
Knicks: ESPN analyst says NBA execs think the T-Wolves won the Karl-Anthony Towns trade
Per NBA on ESPN on X, the network’s Brian Windhorst shared how an overwhelming amount of NBA executives told him that the Minnesota Timberwolves came away with a more favorable hand than the Knicks after trading their vaunted center to New York this offseason, saying this in part (h/t Bleacher Report’s Paul Kasabian):
“I was kind of surprised over the last week at how many executives I talked to who felt like the Timberwolves won this trade,” Windhorst began on NBA Today in a response to a question from ESPN’s Malika Andrews on how Julius Randle now fits with the Timberwolves.
“Which is not something you would expect to hear when most people would agree the best player in the trade went to the Knicks.”
Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo are coming off of great 2023-24 campaigns
The Knicks dealt All-Star Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Towns. Randle had led the Knicks back to playoff relevancy shortly after joining the team in 2019 and blossomed into a 25-10-5 caliber performer in the process.
Behind his All-NBA play, New York snapped a seven-year playoff drought in his 2020-21 Most Improved Player of the Year campaign, where he also finished No. 8 in the MVP race, won 47 games, and made it to the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2022-23, and one-upped that with their first 50-win season since 2012-13 and another trip to the ECF last time around.
Additionally, DiVincenzo was a saving grace for a Knicks team that had a great need for more ball movement and floor spacing. Thanks to his championship experience and superb outside shooting, the Villanova product set the franchise’s single-season three-pointers made record of 283 on the previous campaign. He was expected to be the Knicks’ sixth man behind Mikal Bridges and contend for the 2025 Sixth Man of the Year award.
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Towns will give the Knicks a talent they haven’t had in close to a decade
While Windhorst did mention that it is widely believed that the Knicks got the best player in the deal in Towns, having to give up two valuable talents in exchange for him is what likely persuaded top brass around the league to view the Knicks as having given up the more valuable package in the deal.
Nevertheless, Towns gives the Knicks one of the greatest three-point shooting centers of all time and the most elite passing big men of his generation. New York will gladly feature him as their No. 2 option next to 2024 MVP candidate Jalen Brunson next season with hopes that their roster can finally win the NBA Finals come June of 2025.
The Wolves — who made the Western Conference Finals in 2024 — ought to feel good about their chances at getting back there at the least with their newest additions added to the mix.
