The NBA works hard, but Leon Rose works harder (or something like that). The New York Knicks pulled off their second significant offseason trade by bringing Karl-Anthony Towns home. The team's starting lineup looks drastically different than it did at the end of last season.
New York inquired about Towns throughout the offseason. Shams Charania reported that the Knicks offered the Timberwolves Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson on draft night. Donte DiVincenzo persuaded Minnesota to move on from its former No. 1 overall pick.
Part of the reason the Timberwolves traded Towns months after reaching the Western Conference Finals is the collective bargaining agreement. Minnesota has one of the most expensive payrolls in the league. As The Athletic's Danny Leroux pointed out (subscription required), the trade cut "nearly $50 million off their overall player costs for just the 2024-25 season since the luxury tax is so punitive in the higher levels."
The Timberwolves have more room to breathe financially. Meanwhile, the Knicks are a first-tax apron team and managed to avoid the second apron with the trade. First-tax apron teams can't aggregate minimum salaries together in a trade, so New York signed DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown, and Duane Washington Jr. to deals $1 over the minimum salary. The Knicks signed and traded that trio to the Hornets to make the KAT deal work financially.
The Knicks have discovered a new loophole in the CBA.
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) October 2, 2024
Teams in their situation cannot aggregate minimums anymore. So in the sign and trades of Jeffries, Brown and Washington, they are paying each of those guys just $1 above the minimum, league sources tell @TheAthletic.
Knicks used CBA loophole to complete Karl-Anthony Towns
The collective bargaining agreement complicates trades. A deal between New York and Minnesota involving Towns, Randle, and DiVincenzo wouldn't have worked. It took a few days for the Knicks, Timberwolves, and Hornets to complete a deal. Charlotte received Jeffries, Brown, Washington Jr., and three second-round picks (two from New York and one from Minnesota).
New York found a way to complete the deal by outsmarting the CBA, which is apparently frowned upon.
I have heard from various people that the league isn’t thrilled about this — but such is the way it goes with new CBAs. The NBA tries to close up loopholes and then smart people working for teams find new ones. https://t.co/7qfQEujxRi
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) October 2, 2024
New York also did Jeffries, Brown, and Washington Jr. a massive favor. Washington Jr. signed a deal with Partizan earlier in the offseason. Fred Katz tweeted that Washington Jr.'s buyout with Partizan "took some time to get done." The Knicks had to wait for that to become official until they completed the trade.
Think what you want about the Towns trade, but the Knicks front office is one of the best in the league. Expect to see other front offices follow their lead as teams navigate the wild world that is the collective bargaining agreement.