Timberwolves trade Karl-Anthony Towns to Knicks

Timberwolves trade Karl-Anthony Towns to Knicks

For the second straight year, a blockbuster trade has occurred just days before training camp on Sept. 27. This time, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded star big man Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle–a three-time All-Star–plus Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick, NBA insider Shams Charania broke Friday evening.

BREAKING: The Minnesota Timberwolves are nearing a trade to send All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks, sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski. pic.twitter.com/cFbrvj1c9l

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 28, 2024

Last year, the Milwaukee Bucks traded for former Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard in a three-team trade involving the Phoenix Suns. Ironically enough, it was later reported that this Towns deal involved another team: The Charlotte Hornets. As a result, Charlotte will receive DaQuan Jeffries plus draft compensation from New York, per Charania.

Knicks are sending salary — including DaQuan Jeffries — and draft compensation to Charlotte in three-team Karl-Anthony Towns/Julius Randle deal, sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski. https://t.co/dP4x8dTvr9

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 28, 2024

The Knicks have been in the hunt for a big man all offseason in lieu of Isaiah Hartenstein‘s departure and Mitchell Robinson‘s injury; this week, it was reported by Ian Begley of SNY.com that they had previously done due diligence on Blazers center Deandre Ayton, in addition to the long-standing buzz surrounding Hawks center Clint Capela.

Respectfully, Towns couldn’t be further from Ayton and Capela in terms of his skillset. Though the buzz surrounding Towns-Knicks, whether reputable or not, has persisted over the last several years.

Losing DiVincenzo (and thus, the Villanova Knicks!) will sting, but Towns complements New York’s core of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby better than Randle, on paper. It will be fascinating how head coach Tom Thibodeau navigates those lineups upon Robinson’s arrival, but he will have two-plus months to sort that out, giving him plenty of time.

I don’t love this move for Minnesota, either, outside of DiVincenzo; Randle is a worse fit with Rudy Gobert, and even the Towns-Gobert pairing was clunky, at times. Neither Towns nor Randle were particularly good postseason performers. But Randle’s skillset of isolating and taking long 2s without much purposeful movement doesn’t quite synergize with Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards and Gobert, respectfully.

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