Karl-Anthony Towns to Knicks: Timberwolves Take Step Back by Shedding Salary

New York has the urgency to build a floor-spacing, five-out team around Jalen Brunson, but Minnesota upended a conference finals team.

Karl-Anthony Towns is being traded to the New York Knicks. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

In the aftermath of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ conference finals whipping at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks, the spotlight settled squarely on Karl-Anthony Towns. The good vibes from a terrific conference semifinals performance against the Denver Nuggets—18.6 points per game and some solid defense on Nikola Jokic—were washed away by a dreadful five games against the Mavs, in which Towns connected on just 37.9% of his shots—and 24.2% of his threes. “It’s going to be good for us to take this experience … to understand the discipline we’re going to need to make a deep run,” Towns said after the T-Wolves were eliminated, adding, “the plan is to be here [next season].” 

So much for plans. Towns’s ninth season in Minnesota was his last, with the Timberwolves on Friday agreeing to the framework of a deal that will send Towns, a four-time All-Star, to the New York Knicks in exchange for a package that includes Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a future first-round pick. 

Across the NBA—and all across NBA social media—the deal raised eyebrows. Why would Minnesota, months removed from its first conference finals appearance in two decades and with a roster primed for organic growth, offload its All-NBA big man? As polarizing as Towns is, he’s a 20-ish point per game scorer, 50-ish percentage shooter who shoots 40-ish from three-point range. And why would New York dump Randle and peel off a valuable member of the even more Nova-ey ’Nova Knicks before playing a game together? 

New York’s end of the deal is fairly understandable. The Knicks have had eyes for Towns for years, even before Jalen Brunson turned into Jalen Brunson and pushed the team into contender status. Brunson’s emergence in the second half of last season only increased the urgency to build a floor-spacing, five-out team around him. Enter Towns, a 41.6% three-point shooter last season, a pick-and-roll terror who, despite Minnesota’s revolving door in its coaches office, has measurably improved every offense he has been on the floor with. 

The latest injury to Mitchell Robinson, who is expected to miss at least a couple of months recovering from left ankle surgery, could have ratcheted up the urgency. Robinson’s injury, coupled with the defection of Isaiah Hartenstein to the Oklahoma City Thunder, left the Knicks wafer thin in the middle, with Randle the likely starter (Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau was never wild about Randle as a full-time five, sources say) and Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims off the bench. New York has resisted including DiVincenzo in deals—DiVincenzo signed a very team-friendly four-year, $50 million deal in 2023—in recent months. That hole in the middle proved to be enough to do it. 

Randle is headed to Minnesota as part of the Towns deal. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

If healthy—and the 28-year-old Towns has battled injuries in recent years—Towns resolves that. He’s a minutes-gobbling (Towns averaged 35.6 per game in ’17–18, his last full season playing for Thibodeau in Minnesota), reliable rebounding stretch five who should fit seamlessly in the Knicks’ rotation (Thibs, sources say, is enthusiastic about coaching Towns again).

There are potential defensive issues, and it’s worth watching to see how the laid-back Towns fits into the New York media market. And the Knicks will miss DiVincenzo, who projected to be a Sixth Man of the Year front-runner this season. But basketball-wise, this makes sense. 

For Minnesota? Not so much. The instant reaction from rival executives in the aftermath of the deal leaking out: This is about money. Towns has four years and $220.4 million left on his contract, a number that looks even bigger when alongside huge deals for Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert. With Minnesota’s ownership group in the midst of a Game of Thrones-like battle for control of the franchise, there have been steady whispers that the T-Wolves wouldn’t be free spenders for long. Offloading Towns’s contract will bring significant financial relief. 

It’s harder to see basketball improvement. The T-Wolves will spin a scenario where Randle steps into Towns’s starting spot, Naz Reid takes on a bigger role and DiVincenzo fills a bench void left by Kyle Anderson’s departure, adding a high-volume, 40% three-point shooter to the mix. Meanwhile, general manager Tim Connelly adds a first-rounder (a top-10 protected Detroit Pistons pick) to use in future deals. But Randle is not the three-point shooter Towns is—he shot 31.1% last season and, save for a breakout 2020–21 season, has largely been average to below average from three—creating potential lane-clogging issues with Gobert. There’s also the matter of Randle, 29, entering a de facto contract year and undoubtedly eager to cash in one more time. 

For Minnesota, it’s hard to see this as anything but a step back. And in the Western Conference, where a handful of wins could mean the difference between a top-four seed and a slot in the play-in field, any step back could be disastrous. The Timberwolves had a conference finals team that pummeled the Phoenix Suns and upended the defending champion Nuggets before getting beat by the more seasoned Mavericks. Now feels like an odd time to break it up.