If the New York Knicks need a good laugh, they just need to check the latest trade rumors coming out of the Minnesota Timberwolves' side of things.
New York's blockbusting-trade partner from the 2024 offseason is reportedly shopping Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and the #28 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft around the NBA according to HoopsHype's Michael Scotto. That package sounds eerily familiar. It's exactly what the Knicks traded the T-Wolves for Karl-Anthony Towns, with Minnesota eventually using the selection on center Joan Beringer.
Regardless of what moves the Timberwolves wind up making, the wake of the Knicks' Championship is incredibly ironic timing for them to be shopping that specific package around. Staying singularly focused on themselves just helped them to a championship. But nobody should blame them for deriving a quick chuckle from Minnesota's realization that they may have erred by trading Towns.
Second apron pressured Timberwolves into gifting KAT to the Knicks
Regardless of what anyone says, the Timberwolves did not have to trade Towns. They wound up doing so when they decided the contract they offered him was too large to sustain.
The Knicks welcomed the challenge of building a championship contending roster with Towns' deal as a centerpiece, not as an obstacle. And they played like it throughout the 2026 NBA Playoffs.
Towns' emergence as a playmaker from the top of the key opened up New York's offense, giving it the additional dimensions that Mike Brown was brought in to install. And Jalen Brunson was able to thrive as a scorer off of the ball.
Brunson's scoring domination became an option for Brown, as opposed to his "only" reprieve from scoring droughts. That shift was enabled by Towns' change in play-style, something the Timberwolves could have greatly benefited from amid their own playoff struggles.
Anthony Edwards' injury certainly contributed to their slumps and inevitable elimination. But it was players they opted to keep instead of Towns that failed to pick up the slack. It makes perfect sense that the Timberwolves would be trying to improve their roster, especially with DiVincenzo needing time to recover from an unfortunate injury.
The news coming immediately in the wake of the Knicks' Championship victory, though, reads more like a headline from The Onion than reality. After deciding that Towns' contract wasn't worth it and it'd be best to split him up into several contributors and draft capital, the Timberwolves seem to have decided the grass may have been greener on the first side of that fence.
It just took KAT winning a Championship for them to see the vision. And to show the rest of the league that you might want to make things work with your uber-talented star before deciding that you could recreate them in the aggregate.
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