4. C/PF Karl-Anthony Towns
In the aftermath of a disappointing season in which the Timberwolves made arguably one of the worst trades in NBA history, Minnesota could look to recoup its assets by trading one of its best players in Karl-Anthony Towns. While I personally believe the Knicks shouldn’t target Towns for various reasons, Leon Rose should keep an open mind.
To keep things positive, Towns is a great player that would add an element of floor spacing at the five that New York has never seen. Mitchell Robinson is great, but his lack of offense does hurt the Knicks at times. Adding a guy like Towns to the Knicks would open up the offense a ridiculous amount, making life easier for everyone.
Not only can KAT put the ball in the basket at a very efficient rate, but he’s also a rather underrated playmaker. People will clown Towns for his performance level in the regular season in 2022-23, but it’s worth noting that he was dealing with injuries and played in just 29 games.
On the more negative side of things, Towns has consistently disappeared in the playoffs and recently signed a ridiculous supermax contract that would have him making $62 million at age 31. Towns is a good, even great player at times, but nowhere close to being deserving of that much money.
Towns would help the Knicks, however, his consistent failures in the playoffs would limit their ceiling immensely. This is the sort of effect Julius Randle currently has on the team and I think I speak for most of the fanbase when I say we don’t want to deal with another Randle-esque playoff collapse.