Blazers Star Had Been Considered By Knicks Before Karl-Anthony Towns Trade

Did New York make a mistake?

Feb 15, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) dunks the basketball during the second half against Portland Trail Blazers center Duop Reath (26) at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images / Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

The NBA world was taken by storm late Friday night, when it was revealed that the New York Knicks had acquired four-time All-Star center/power forward Karl-Anthony Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for three-time All-Star power forward Julius Randle, swingman Donte DiVincenzo, and a future first round pick (via the Detroit Pistons), while offloading (free agent) wing DaQuan Jeffries and some level of future picks to the Charlotte Hornets.

Apparently, the Portland Trail Blazers had an asset that New York had also considered as a potential trade addition for an upgrade at center.

Read More: Full Details of Three-Team Trade to Send Karl-Anthony Towns to Knicks

Per Ian Begley of SNY.tv, New York had apparently been intrigued about the possibility of trading to acquire $34 million center Deandre Ayton at some point prior to the Towns deal.

“I’d add Ayton to the list because the Knicks have had interest in him — and have done background work on him — in the past,”Begley wrote of possible trade acquisitions, per to news of the Towns trade breaking. “Ayton averaged 22.7 points and 12.5 rebounds (3.6 offensive) in 18 games played after the All-Star break last season. He shot 58 percent from the field during that stretch and has playoff/NBA Finals experience.”

Ayton currently is owed $69.9 million across the final two seasons of his contract. Randle would most likely have had to be included in the exchange for salary-matching purposes, and obviously would have been a bit of a positional redundancy with starting Portland power forward Jerami Grant.

Towns is an elite jump shooter, while Ayton's jumper has pretty much abandoned him — and he was never a good 3-point shooter. Towns, 28, logged averages of 21.8 points on hyper-efficient .504/.416/.873 shooting splits, 8.3 boards, 3.0 dimes, 0.7 steals and 0.7 blocks a night. The 7-footer is a flawed defender, but New York is clearly banking on his fit next to Jalen Brunson on the other end of the court.

Ayton has thus far proven to be — as Portland fans can attest — only fitfully motivated as a scorer, but he has been a far better defender on occasion, primarily during his tenure with the Phoenix Suns. He's far cheaper than Towns, but the two-time All-NBA honoree is likely seen as a safer bet.

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