Knicks better hope they’re not stumbling into their own Ja Morant trade problem

The Memphis Grizzlies are finding out the hard way that their once-upon-a-time superstar Ja Morant has less trade value than they’d hope, or think. The Atlanta Hawks were just gobsmacked with the same realization about Trae Young.

If things don’t change, the New York Knicks are headed down an identical path with Karl-Anthony Towns.

Sure, the circumstances are different. Morant and, until recently, Young were on the teams that drafted them. Towns has yet to finish his second season in New York. But the Knicks are stewards of his contract—a deal that will pay him $57.1 million in 2026-27, and $61 million in 2027-28 (player option). 

When you’re forking over an average of 34.7 percent of the salary cap, you’re expecting to get a franchise No. 1. Thanks to the all-time bargain that is Jalen Brunson, the Knicks are asking KAT to be their No. 2.

So far, after taking into account all the highs and all the lows, he’s failing. And New York may be facing a far larger conundrum because of it.

Karl-Anthony Towns is letting the Knicks down

This is not a reflexive take to Towns’ latest clunker, a 5-of-14 nothingburger in Wednesday night’s putrid loss to the sad-sack Sacramento Kings. Brunson exited in the first quarter with a right ankle injury, and didn’t return. He appears to have avoided the worst-case scenario, which comes as a monstrous relief for a team that has no true second option—no one to step up and spearhead everything, consistently, in Brunson’s stead.

Towns’ latest game was a chance to send a message. In many ways, he did exactly that. It was just the wrong one.

That this dismal effort followed KAT getting benched down the stretch of Sunday’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers is jarring. A three-time All-NBA player should take exception to getting sidelined for a big man making four times less, and also for no big man at all.

Instead, Towns played with the apparent energy of someone filing their own taxes while waiting for their number to ping on LED screen at the DMV. This the continuation of an alarming trend that has Knicks fans scratching their heads, or outright irate. 

Towns’ shot attempts per minute are already nearing career lows. More recently, they are plumbing rock bottom. He has attempted under 15 shots in 12 of his past 16 games. 

Excuses, of course, abound. The two-man synergy between him and Brunson is nothing to write home about. In his own words, he’s still adjusting, still sacrificing. He needs someone who will keep him involved, who will spoon-feed him the ball.

Valid or not, at some point, the reasons behind unspectacular performances get tiring. And they are invariably an indictment on the player himself.

To be sure, Towns isn’t the only problem in New York. And none of this a comment on KAT the human. The Knicks’ post-NBA-Cup malaise is truly a team effort. But when your deeply flawed, highest paid player is now nosediving on the only side of the floor on which he’s a net positive, it can’t be ignored.  

The truth about Karl-Anthony Towns’ trade value

It doesn’t take a body-language expert to see that Towns is frustrated. Perhaps he’s even downright unhappy—so unhappy that he comes to prefer a change of scenery. 

The Knicks better hope their relationship doesn’t reach that breaking point, because their options will be, frankly, Trae Young-to-Washington-esque.

Feel free to disagree. If you do, please provide the team and the deal that will net New York positive value for KAT’s services. You think the Milwaukee Bucks want him as matching salary in a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade? Or that the Knicks could get away with including him in a package for Jaren Jackson Jr., rather than Mikal Bridges or OG Anunoby?

Throwing star pursuits out of the window doesn’t change much. Which team is forking over a first-round pick for Towns, let alone multiple selections? As a seven-foot shooter and driver, he is more of a functional anomaly than Trae or Ja. That works in the Knicks’ favor. But not by much. Not when he’s making what he makes. Not when he’s past 30. And most certainly not when he, unlike Ja or Trae, is saddled with being a No. 2 rather than No. 1, and failing, often miserably.

There’s a lot of basketball left to play this season. Towns will explore mountainous peaks between now and the playoffs. To what end is a matter of course. And that’s putting it charitably. To be put it bluntly, the Knicks, as currently constructed, are not a title threat. Not really. They are the next best thing: good, but not good enough, incalculably infuriating as a result. 

If they don’t materially, miraculously shift course soon, big changes are coming over the summer. At this rate, though, Towns may be among the constants—not because the Knicks refuse to trade him, but because they can’t.