Bleacher Report Knicks-Timberwolves trade idea is far too unrealistic
The 2023 offseason could finally be the one where the New York Knicks trade for a star. The Knicks have the assets to get a deal done for any disgruntled star that may become available this summer, but it all depends on the fit. There’s one player that New York shouldn’t pursue if Minnesota shows a willingness to deal him — Karl-Anthony Towns.
Towns and the Timberwolves are coming off a season where the team was eliminated in the first round for the second straight year. Before that, Minnesota missed the playoffs for three consecutive years. KAT’s playoff debut came in 2018 when the Timberwolves were ousted in the first round by the Rockets.
His biggest red flag is his contract. He signed a four-year, $224 million supermax extension last offseason and is signed through the 2027-28 season, a $62 million player option. The Knicks would be making a huge gamble by taking on that contract.
Because of Towns’ ties to New York, trade ideas that would land the 27-year-old with the Knicks have been popping up all over the place. Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz created trade ideas for the 28 teams that aren’t in the NBA Finals, and unsurprisingly, for New York, Swartz had the Knicks trading for KAT.
Bleacher Report Knicks-Timberwolves Karl-Anthony Towns trade idea would never work
Here’s the trade that Bleacher Report proposed:
In theory, the trade doesn’t look that bad. A large portion of the Knicks fanbase is ready to move on from Julius Randle after a second dud playoff performance in three seasons. An even larger portion of the fanbase would be outraged to see Immanuel Quickley go, though. He was a finalist for Sixth Man of the Year and although he had his struggles in the postseason as well, he proved in 2022-23 that he has a bright future.
Although Karl-Anthony Towns isn’t the player that New York should go after, it’s almost a given that the Knicks will need to give up either Quickley or Quentin Grimes in a trade for a star. Any smart front office giving up a big-name player would be absurd to not demand either one of those players in a deal. Who knows how the offseason will play out, but parting ways with one of the Knicks’ promising young players is a possibility that fans need to be prepared for.
Where things get really unrealistic is the 2024 first-round pick. The Knicks have four 2024 first-round picks with one of those picks being their own. Bleacher Report didn’t specify which first-round pick New York would be giving up, but it’s reasonable to assume it’s the pick that the team owns.
If Minnesota were willing to give up KAT for only one first-round pick, that’d be a miracle. The Timberwolves traded four first-round picks and a pick swap to the Jazz last offseason for Rudy Gobert. KAT isn’t worth that much (and frankly neither was Gobert) but the Knicks getting by with sending only one pick to the Timberwolves would be bizarre.
Minnesota hasn’t shown any inclination that they want to trade Towns, and if they did, it wouldn’t be for Randle, Quickley, and one first-round pick. The Knicks’ thoughts on trading Randle is another issue because the organization could be set on keeping him for at least another season.
If Karl-Anthony Towns does end up in New York, it won’t be in a deal like the one above.
