On the eve of training camp for the 2024-25 season, the Knicks spilled off perhaps their biggest shocker of the Leon Rose era, trading Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns. The logic was straightforward: Randle was in an expiring year and New York was desperately thin in the middle, and they addressed both by securing one of the greatest big man shooters of all time to space the floor for star Jalen Brunson.
There were also concerns with the acquisitions. Towns was a notoriously unreliable defender who made a single Conference Finals his whole career, and previous questions about his fit with head coach Tom Thibodeau and general toughness would surface, bringing him to a high-expectation environment in New York.
A hundred games later and Towns quieted many of those doubts, while entrenching others. He had a huge season statistically and in delivering in big moments, averaging 24.4 points and 12.8 rebounds on 52.6/42/82.9 splits and saving the Knicks with magical clutch moments in Game 3s against Detroit and Indiana.
He had a terrific defensive series being thrown into a switch-heavy scheme against Boston, and managed to anchor a Knicks defense that finished in the top half of the league. On the other hand, he often deviated from the team’s scheme, according to The Athletic, and got exposed in the Pacers matchup.
All this has led to another inflection point in this rollercoaster of a Knicks era, the first offseason post-Towns and Mikal Bridges trades, which Rose kicked off with a Molotov cocktail, relieving Thibodeau of his duties after five successful seasons. With absolutely nobody safe in this pursuit of a championship, should the Knicks keep Towns for another go around, or shop him in trades for bigger fish?
The Thibodeau firing implicitly suggested the team believes in this core, and that being able to fully maximize its talent can bring a long-awaited championship. There’s certainly a good amount of evidence for this, especially in Towns’ case.
Despite being a historically great shooter meant to supercharge the Knicks’ offense, Towns had the lowest three-point attempt rate since his 2018-19 season. The fact that he knocked down 42 percent of these shots means a lot of points were left on the table here.
Part of this is emphasis from the coaching staff, some on the individual, plus how opposing defenses guarded him. It didn’t take long for the league to start throwing wings at Towns and putting their rim protectors on Josh Hart, which the Knicks never aggressively adjusted to, even as their offensive numbers declined to middling levels as the season progressed and bottomed in the playoffs.
Seeing how they’d look in true five-out lineups, which is largely the point of trading for a player like Towns, would have been beneficial, but they were a rare appearance. This gives a lot of credence to the decision to move on from Thibodeau and give Towns another season.
His chemistry with Brunson looked to be developing, with a strong pick-and-roll and lots of fun options with Towns as the high-post initiator and the guard moving off-ball. However, this also dissipated as the season went on, whether due to opposing adjustments or regression to old habits from the players and head coach.
Defensively, Towns looked his best when engaged in more aggressive schemes like switching or hard hedging, yet the Knicks consistently had him drop coverage throughout the regular season. They brought out adjustments in the playoffs that paid dividends, especially in the Celtics series, but one had to wonder where the reps were earlier and if more of them could have turned the tide in this last series.
That said, if he simply didn’t follow the team’s gameplan and did his own thing as suggested in reporting following the loss, is that an issue that goes away with a new coach? If the Knicks don’t think so, a trade could be on the table, but the question is for whom?
Trading Towns for some kind of package of players and picks seems antithetical to the championship mission, even if it provides for a potential better fit. These are completely made up, but if the Knicks are moving Towns, it’s hard to imagine it being for the Lakers’ spare parts of Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt or Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis and Keon Ellis.
No, the real big fish, at least the ones circulating trade rumors, are Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant. Those are bona fide top-ten postseason superstars that you simply have to consider if the ultimate goal is winning a championship.
And consider them, they will. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Knicks made a strong offer for Durant at the trade deadline, whether or not that included Towns is unknown.
Towns has a salary similar to Durant’s and Antetokounmpo’s, which makes him a natural swap candidate if the Knicks can fork over enough additional pieces to sweeten the offer. If these trades are on the table, New York will need to run the risk-reward, regardless of the coaching change.
Antetokounmpo should be a no-brainer, but Towns and the limited trove of picks and young players the Knicks have at their disposal may not be enough, barring a direct request in New York’s direction. Durant is trickier given his age, but also replaces Towns with more of a two-way threat that can fit in with less contortion defensively.
The Knicks can also pursue these two or other star names with packages that don’t include Towns. This would be the best of both worlds if they could somehow pull it off.
Ultimately, as ready as the Knicks are to make that next step, it seems far-fetched to expect Towns to be off the roster this summer. Despite taking much of the punishment after their Conference Finals defeat, Towns had a strong regular season and postseason campaign.
While he had his faults, there was plenty of blame to go around, and Thibodeau left plenty on the table for another coach to come in and take advantage of with Towns still on the roster.
Towns should be a “stay,” but with this league and this team, you just never know.
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