Knicks Trading for Karl-Anthony Towns in Shocking Blockbuster Deal: Report

The New York Knicks are reportedly acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns in a shocking trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Shams Charania of The Athletic was the first to report on the trade.

Charania reports that Towns is heading to New York for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a first-round pick via the Detroit Pistons.

Read more: Karl-Anthony Towns Posts on Social Media Amid Reported Trade to Knicks

This is officially the biggest surprise of the offseason, and puts a cap on one of the greatest offseasons ever by the Knicks.

Charania first reported the deal at 10:14 p.m. ET. At 10:08 p.m. ET, six minutes earlier, Towns posted a simple message on Twitter: “…”

Towns helped Minnesota reach the Western Conference Finals last season, though the team fell in five games to the Dallas Mavericks. Now, he’s heading to New York to join a revamped Knicks squad that finished as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference last year, and lost in seven games to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Knicks have had an unbelievable offseason.

On June 26, the team reached an agreement with the Brooklyn Nets to acquire Mikal Bridges for a haul of draft picks. Bridges was joining former college teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and DiVincenzo to make up the “Villanova Knicks.”

Read more: Knicks Acquire Mikal Bridges From Nets for Massive Haul of Draft Picks

Then, the very next day, the Knicks agreed to a massive contract extension with forward OG Anunoby, keeping him in New York for the foreseeable future.

Read more: Knicks, OG Anunoby Agree to Massive Extension Following Mikal Bridges Trade

Later in the offseason, Brunson took a massive pay cut to lock up an extension to remain in New York. The Knicks then agreed to a contract extension with head coach Tom Thibodeau.

Read more: Jalen Brunson Takes Massive Discount to Remain With New York Knicks

Towns, 28, solidifies New York’s front court. The four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA Third-Teamer is coming off a 2023-24 season in which he averaged 21.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 50.4 percent from the field, 41.6 percent from deep, and 87.3 percent from the free throw line.

The Timberwolves selected Towns with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. He won the Rookie of the Year award his first year, and then took a leap in his second season, averaging 25.3 points per game. Towns averaged a career-high 26.5 points per game during the 2019-20 season.

Across his nine-year career, Towns is averaging 22.9 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. He’s a career 52.4 percent shooter from the field, 39.8 percent shooter from deep, and 83.9 percent shooter from the free throw line.

He joins Brunson, Bridges, Anunoby, and Hart to make up arguably the best core in the entire NBA.

As for Minnesota, they move off of Towns before having to pay him $220 million over the next four seasons. They add Randle and DiVincenzo to a team that fell just short of the NBA Finals a year ago. They’ll join Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert to try to get Minnesota over the hump, and the hope for Minnesota is that Randle is an even better fit alongside Gobert in the front court.

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