How agency Knicks once had frosty relationship with finished off final frenetic details of Karl-Anthony Towns trade

The Knicks should spell Klutch with a “C.”

In order to nab Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks needed the front office’s foresight, the creativity of team capologist Brock Aller and assistance from agency Klutch Sports in the most complicated and combustible aspect of the megadeal’s framework.

As The Post learned, it involved rushed timelines and layers of negotiations from lawyers to the MSG Sports COO from New York to Charlotte to Serbia — all while Towns waited in Charleston, S.C., for clearance to start training camp.

Why?

Duane Washington Jr., a Klutch client, needed a buyout. He was included in the three-team swap with the T-Wolves and Hornets, among three players the Knicks signed-and-traded to make the salaries match and confirm the mathematical equation.

For Washington Jr., the reward was a roughly $2.2 million guaranteed salary and an opportunity to revive his NBA dream with the Hornets. Since the Knicks were unable to aggregate players on minimum contracts, they found a loophole by signing Washington Jr. and the two other players — Charlie Brown Jr. and DaQuan Jeffries — to just $1 above the minimum, as first reported by The Athletic.

A problem exclusive to Washington Jr., however, is that he had already signed with Serbian team Partizan. The 24-year-old guard was in Belgrade when he heard about being traded to the Hornets.

“I got a call at like 2 a.m. in Serbia,” Washington Jr. told The Post. “I was feeding my newborn son and my agent called me, said I was signed-and-traded and it was crazy, man.”

Behind the scenes, it was also crazy for Andy Miller, a Klutch Sports top executive overseeing buyout negotiations, Andy Latack, the head of legal at Klutch, and Washington Jr.’s agent, Shayaun Saee.

Washington Jr. needed to get out of his Partizan deal but neither the Knicks nor Hornets offered money toward a buyout, leaving it up to Klutch to negotiate with only Washington Jr.’s salary as leverage. For Partizan, there was no incentive to help facilitate the Towns trade. The club just started its EuroLeague campaign and needed Washington Jr., a borderline NBA-level talent, to beat the likes of Baskonia and Real Madrid.

As Partizan drew hard lines in the buyout negotiations, the pressure from the Knicks and Timberwolves intensified. The trade leaked Friday night, and Knicks camp in Charleston started Tuesday with Towns unable to participate because of Washington Jr’s ongoing buyout talks.

If the trade blew up at that point, it was because Klutch, an agency with a documented rocky history with the Knicks, and Partizan couldn’t agree on a number. A source said Jamaal Lesane, the COO of MSG Sports, was instrumental in working with Klutch toward a faster resolution as the Knicks pushed to get Towns on the practice court.

According to a source, the buyout agreement was roughly $1.6 million if Washington Jr. didn’t return to Partizan, and about $600,000 if he did.

“For me, the end result is, I had an obligation to help Klutch come out with a good result, and most importantly we had an obligation to the client to have him come out with a good result,” Miller, the Executive Vice President of Klutch Sports, told The Post.

Coincidentally, Washington Jr. faced the Knicks in the preseason as a member of the Hornets, missing potential game-winning free throws in the final seconds of New York’s win. He was waived Wednesday by Charlotte and returned to Partizan, although it was unclear if he’d be available for Thursday’s big game against Real Madrid.

Towns, meanwhile, played his first home game with the Knicks on Wednesday and was ready by the second day of training camp after clutch negotiations.