On Friday night, Shams Charania of The Athletic dropped an unexpected nuke on the NBA landscape, as the Knicks traded Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for four-time All-Star canter Karl-Anthony Towns. A stunning deal that saw New York part ways with one of its longest-tenured players and a first-year standout, there’s reason to worry about how the team will look without two integral pieces of last year’s squad.
Karl-Anthony Towns is the big-name and big-money star that Leon Rose has been rumored to covet for years, but can he help the Knicks snap a 50-year title drought
Why Karl-Anthony Towns Is Perfect For the Knicks
Over the last two seasons, the Minnesota Timberwolves have played KAT at the four which hasn’t worked out the way both sides hoped it would. This trade immediately slots him back as a center, and it immediately gives New York one of the most unique offensive weapons at the position thanks to his brilliant three-point shot. A truly remarkable floor spacer, KAT ranked in the 92nd Percentile in 3PT% (41.6%) on over five attempts a night, and that should help solve one of the Knicks’ biggest problems on offense.
Jalen Brunson loves driving to the rim and either going to the floater or trying to draw contact and get to the free-throw line, but the lane to the rim has almost always been clogged. No team in the NBA struggled to draw rim protectors away from the basket more than the Knicks, making the difficulty of each attempt much greater than it would be if the Knicks had better floor spacing. With Karl-Anthony Towns on the court, Brunson has someone who can draw a rim protector away from the basket as their worst shooter would be Josh Hart.
As mentioned earlier, Karl-Anthony Towns is likely coming to New York to be the center, a position change that should do him well after seeing his production dip over the last two seasons.
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KAT experiences a harsh and sudden dip in production the second the Timberwolves make him a power forward, and while there are defensive limitations, the Knicks have the right kind of cast around him to find success. OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are two premier wing defenders who can handle the opposing team’s two best scorers, and Josh Hart isn’t a slouch on the defensive side of the ball either. With these three capable wing defenders who can guard most scoring threats in the NBA, the Knicks could have Karl-Anthony Towns play more of a supplementary role.
While Minnesota was better defensively with him off the court, they still held a 111.6 Defensive Rating, which would have been the sixth-best mark in the NBA. Comparing the Timberwolves’ lineup around KAT with the Knicks’ projected lineup around KAT, the defensive output isn’t incredibly different.
A +1.1 Defensive EPM would rank in between the 84th and 85th Percentile whereas a +1.4 would rank between the 87th and 88th Percentile, hardly enough of a difference to freak out over. Furthermore, Mikal Bridges’ +0.8 Defensive EPM could improve as he moves to a secondary role defensively instead of being the definite primary defensive wing. The Knicks are extremely well-constructed to mask the problems that Karl-Anthony Towns has defensively, and we could be looking at an offense that finishes near the top of the league in efficiency and volume metrics.
The player who Karl-Anthony Towns is replacing in the lineup is Julius Randle, and it’s impossible to argue the Knicks aren’t upgrading there. Randle’s peak EPM was +3.2, accomplished twice in his career back in 2020 and 2022. As for KAT, he has never dipped below a +4.6 EPM while playing center, and considering just how good the Knicks were with Julius Randle, this should dramatically raise the team’s ceiling. Losing Donte DiVincenzo hurts as well, but considering that he’s coming off of the bench, his value to this Knicks’ team wouldn’t be as great as it was last year.
Two bonafide stars alongside three of the most versatile wings in the NBA is a recipe for success, but they’ll need their bench to step up if they want to survive the minutes they play without their stars on the court.
Can the Knicks’ Bench Hold Up After Big Trade?
The Knicks still have a glutton of guards who can space the floor on their depth chart, with the most intriguing option in that group being Miles McBride. Inserted into the rotation the day New York acquired OG Anunoby, he averaged 10.6 points per game with a 58.7% True Shooting%, becoming an excellent shooter as well. He hit over 40% of his attempts from beyond the arc at 5.0 attempts a night, and the Knicks should consider him as their sixth man entering the season.
McBride has an ability to catch fire and put opponents to bed early, and the Knicks can surround him with the shooting talent needed to make sure he doesn’t get swarmed by defenders. Landry Shamet is a strong perimeter threat who can provide some more scoring depth, as he has a career 38.4% three-point percentage on 4.9 attempts a game. The Knicks also signed Cam Payne who has a modest 36.9% three-point percentage in his career on 3.0 attempts a game.
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Precious Achuiwa is expected to be the team’s backup center, a role he played admirably after the Knicks acquired him in the deal that brought OG Anunoby to New York. Rookie Tyler Kolek could be in the rotation this year as well, as the second-round guard brings much-needed playmaking and some shooting to the table as well. He could be the primary playmaker for the bench although Shamet and Payne do provide some competition for him to beat out.
The lack of forward depth is a concern, as while they could move Achuiwa to the four and play Jericho Sims, I would advise against that. He saw his minutes reduced last season after two straight years of stagnation and regression on both sides of the basketball. The Knicks could look to add a wing by trading one of their contracts, and Mitchell Robinson is someone that they’re fielding calls on per Kris Pursiainen.
We also rarely see a team have their entire starting lineup off the court at the same time, so the Knicks could experiment with a couple of ideas to stack their starters’ minutes. Perhaps they make Mikal Bridges the first player they sub out on a nightly basis or try to keep one of KAT or Brunson on the court at all times. It’s not a perfect unit, but the Knicks can make it work for the first half of the season.
The New York Knicks are better now than they were before the trade, and they were already a championship-caliber roster. With the starting lineup having improved synergy thanks to the addition of a lethal three-point shooter, this team might just be able to win the Eastern Conference. Boston is the best team in the NBA and therefore the best in the East as well, but with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns steering the offense and their slew of defensive wings anchoring the defense, New York just might be able to make a run to the Finals.