As Karl-Anthony Towns returns to Minnesota, Knicks have gotten all they could have expected

Both teams understood the magnitude.

The Minnesota Timberwolves were trading away a fan favorite, the second-best player in their history. They had just put together their greatest squad ever, one that reached the Western Conference finals for the second time in the organization’s existence. They were poised to build on their success.

But whether because of money, roster flexibility, basketball or something else, they traded Karl-Anthony Towns at the beginning of October.

In adding the four-time All-Star, the New York Knicks were taking a risk, too. The roster, as is, was perseverance personified. But Julius Randle was entering the final season of his contract, and though he was eligible for a new one, he and the front office were so far apart in extension talks that divorce was on the brink. New York also said goodbye to Donte DiVincenzo, a man who played at Madison Square Garden for only one year, yet seemed like he was born to spar in that building. He broke the franchise’s single-season 3-point record. He was part of the Villanova core. He sank the Game 2 winner against the Philadelphia 76ers. His character — the spearheaded pluck that screamed “not just a shooter” — was the team’s personality.

The Knicks and Wolves understood the trade would signal an overhaul of who they both were. A few days into training camp, they executed the swap anyway.

With the two sides preparing to square off Thursday night, in an emotional homecoming for Towns, who spent his first nine pro seasons with the Wolves, a reminder will come: Both the Knicks and Timberwolves are still molding their new identities, though not all the mystery is because of the three aforementioned players.

For the first time in memory, a Tom Thibodeau team does not deploy a conventional rim-protector for most or all of a game. Last season, New York’s shot-blocking duo was a pair of centers, Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein. Towns is different. Of course, no one, including Thibodeau (who supported the trade enthusiastically), expected him to transform into something he is not.

These Knicks, sitting at 16-10, third in the Eastern Conference, do not operate the same way as the Knicks who fell one win short of the conference finals last season, when contributor after contributor went down with injury during a two-series playoff run. Those Knicks, DiVincenzo chief among them, would punch you in the mouth with their identity. These ones will whiz by you and nail shots from anywhere.

Towns’ presence has changed them, and really, what more could the Knicks have expected from him?

They are third in points per possession, in the top tier of scariest offensive fleets, largely because of him. There is a strong argument he’s been New York’s best player this season. His pick-and-roll chemistry with Jalen Brunson, who finished fifth in MVP voting last season, is flourishing. The two already look like they’ve played far more than 26 games together.

Towns is averaging 24.8 points and is good for a couple of no-look, one-handed dimes a night. They’re often cross-court flings, ones he can hurl over defenders because he’s taller than anyone else on the floor.

He is the ultimate quick decision-maker, always screening or cutting or sliding to the side to open up passing lanes for 3s, a juxtaposition to Randle’s stickier style. No one trails a fast break like Towns. When Josh Hart grabs a defensive rebound and hurries the other way, he knows he has his big man behind him, ready to chuck a 27-footer from the top of the key. Towns is nailing 44 percent of his long balls. When closeouts are too aggressive, he attacks them and bullies his way to the rim. The efficiency metrics are off the charts, all flirting with career highs.

He leads the league in rebounds with 13.9 a game. The Knicks’ defensive rebound rate is significantly improved when Towns is on the court, according to Cleaning the Glass. Individually, Towns’ defensive rebound rate and overall rebound rate are first in the NBA. And per Second Spectrum, he also leads the league in contested rebounds per game.

The Knicks lost one 7-footer, Hartenstein, in free agency; another, Robinson, to injury; and sent Randle, a double-digit rebounder, to Minnesota. They are small, starting 6-foot-7 OG Anunoby at power forward. And yet, between Towns and the ravenous Hart, it hasn’t been so ugly. The Knicks are in the top half of the league in total rebound rate, an acceptable number, not that there are many misses to recover anyway.

But while they score with the best of them, they give up buckets, too.

Towns is neither a rim protector nor a top-flight pick-and-roll defender. His feet on defense can be heavy. At times, opponents have picked apart Towns on the back line, just as they have in other moments on the perimeter with Brunson or Mikal Bridges, who hasn’t been the stopper New York hoped it was receiving when it dealt a haul of draft picks for him in July.

The Knicks have tried various pick-and-roll coverages with Towns, dropping him back to the basket or sending him to the level of the screen or beyond it. He can foul too much, one of the reasons the Knicks, in a perfect world, lean toward more conservative pick-and-roll coverages with their center, who is due for All-Star accolades and maybe more. He’s prone to silly fouls on offense, too, but the Knicks need to keep Towns on the court.

He has flaws, but none have caught the Knicks by surprise. They understood whom they were acquiring. Just like the Wolves, they knew pulling off the NBA’s biggest trade of the fall would take more than a minute to refine.

Make no mistake about it: Minnesota is still figuring itself out too.

Julius Randle drives to the basket against the Warriors. (David Gonzales / Imagn Images)

Randle might have been the three-time All-Star going to Minnesota, but DiVincenzo was the final piece, the one whose entry to the trade got the Timberwolves to say yes. The Wolves had chased DiVincenzo in 2023 free agency, according to league sources, and almost landed him until he decided he wanted to play with his college buddies, Brunson and Hart, in New York. A few months ago, Minnesota president Tim Connelly still yearned for him. The Timberwolves were not doing this trade without his inclusion.

But now, a man who was one of the best 3-point shooters in the NBA last season can’t hit a jumper — and the misses aren’t just coming plentifully; they’re spanking the iron hard enough to leave marks. With the Knicks, he balled out, ripping the starting spot away from Quentin Grimes. Now, once again, he’s coming off the bench.

Normally, DiVincenzo could close his eyes and still drain two of every five corner 3-pointers. So far this season, he’s shooting just 26 percent from that area. He’s hitting only 32 percent overall from deep.

Despite such lapses, Randle has had his moments in Minneapolis: a game-winner, one of his most efficient seasons and better defense of late. Once again, he’s averaging more than 20 points a game. But the fit alongside four-time defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert is clunky. Both are at their best around the basket, Gobert because he’s picking-and-rolling or carving out space for rebounds and Randle because he’s posting up or eviscerating smaller pushovers on the way to the hoop. It’s reminiscent of the former dynamic between Randle and the rim-diving Robinson, though Gobert has more skill with the ball than Robinson did.

The Wolves, however, are up to fourth in points allowed per possession. The defense is getting better. A season after winning 56 games and coming three victories away from the NBA Finals, they are 14-11, seventh in the jam-packed West.

Yet, if the Wolves don’t improve, the ceiling won’t be high enough.

They are in the bottom half of the league in offense and now have to figure out Randle’s future, though his expiring contract is one reason this trade makes them cheaper in the long term. (Towns earns a massive salary and is signed through 2028.) The Timberwolves have a bunch of pieces who don’t always enhance each other, though they have found their defensive stride. They lead the league in points allowed per possession since Nov. 28 — and second place is more than 10 points per 100 possessions behind them. For reference, the chasm between second place and 20th place during that time is smaller.

It’s also plausible the Knicks can’t reach the heights they want as constructed.

Only a few months before trading for Towns, they executed another deal, one that sent four unprotected first-round picks, another protected one and an unprotected first-round swap to the Brooklyn Nets for Bridges, who was supposed to engulf ballhandlers on the perimeter but has yet to reach those levels. New York is 16th in points allowed per possession at the moment, though it’s climbing. The goal is to win multiple playoff series either this year or in the near future. But whether we’re discussing 2025 or beyond, this team will still have both Brunson and Towns, two defenders who play hard but have physical limitations on defense and whom elite offenses can attack late in the postseason.

The Wolves have issues. So do the Knicks.

But at least the Knicks can rest easy knowing that they are surviving, third in the weaker conference, and that, maybe more importantly, the guy they brought in has been as dominant as they could have hoped.

Required Reading

(Top photo of Karl-Anthony Towns: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)