Karl-Anthony Towns Traded to New York (Official Discussion Thread)

[Neeva]

I expected two more picks at least. Randle was utter trash to start this past season for the knicks so he’s gonna have to start much better for the wolves and quick. It is a contract year for him so he needs to put up.Wolves can’t get off to another lackluster start to the season after a big trade and give Utah another pick in the teens.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Our bench look much more nice than last year. NAZ, Di Vincenzo, NAW, Joe. Could improve our offense by a good margin.

[TheProdigy]

I’m fine with the trade. KAT to Randle is a downgrade, but let’s see how Randle’s defense looks when he plays next to Gobert. KAT had a poor reputation as a defender until just recently after getting to play with Gobert.

I’m also very excited about DDV. Our perimeter defense is going to be unreal.

[ILC]

My dream for a KAT trade was Markkanen, but if this was KAT's value then that had no chance of ever happening.

Never liked KAT, never liked Randle, so for me that is a wash. KAT is more talented but also earns stupid money while Randle is basically expiring.

Then MIN also gets Donte (I'd take him straight up for KAT that's how much I don't like that dude) and a pick which maybe they can use during the season to attach to Randle's "expiring" and get a Jerami Grant, Kuzma, Cam Johnson type of player. Double down on shooting and defense around Ant.

[guest81]

I think there's been a lot of overreaction, not unsurprisingly like when the gobert del broke.

Yea kat was good at defending jokic kinda in the playoffs. He was good in the suns series too. He also no showed against the Mavs, no showed against the grizzlies and no showed against the rockets. He's not an elite 2nd option, that was always the thought but it never came to fruition. I'm not a huge randle fan and he isn't as good as kat but i don't think he's coming in to be a 2nd option. My guess is Finch ( who obviously has imput on this decision) wants to have more flow and instead of randle just getting all of kats shots , now jaden gets more shots , naz gets more minutes and more shots, donte gets shots ect.

I have thought for a long time that kat just doesn't have the mental strength to be a big part of a championship team. It's been proven out year after year. Wolves might finally start to get s good whistle now they the refs most hated player is off the team

[guest81]

Did Kat really post "..." on x after finding out about this? Freaking clown.

If I busted my ass for this dog **** franchise over 9 years with 5 different coaches, terrible teammates outside of these past two years, and then at our peak get traded I'd be speechless too.

Especially if it was almost impossible to get good looks in the post because said franchise traded for another "star" player at my same position, and said star player was so limited offensively a core part of my game had to be changed.

Yeah I'd be **** speechless.

Outside of KG, KAT was the only star that didn't ask out or leave and we treated him like ****.

So take your clear disdain for him somewhere else. Loyalty matters, we have none. This probably has rocked me just as much as the Rubio trade/ Jimmy trades. And just like the Jimmy era, nothing good will of trading for a PF who can't space well.

This right here. KAT has put up with so much garbage from this franchise. Almost his entire family died from COVID. He soldiered through that and finally, finally got a good team around him. And this is the thanks he gets?

He just brought a 11 million dollar mansion with his smokeshow partner kat is doing just fine

[guest81]

Wolves are also clearly still a contender if anyone thought different. They still have their top 4 defensive players from last year and they are DEEP. They have naz, naw, donte, rob, ingles, garza all as just bench options. You can play pretty much any kind of lineup you want. Plus you have ant who should be ready for the big leap this year

[Neeva]

Are people really feeling bad for Kat? Tim did him really good solid and a HUGE favor. He goes home, he is gonna play for an east contender with a good chance for finals (wolves vs knicks?) and his partner seems extremely happy.

Now the reason why I was upset at first was lack of first round picks that the wolves got In the return but I just have to except that Kat’s contract is toxic!!. His play has stalled, he is suddenly very injury prone and he isn’t close to worth a super max. Ant should be the only wolves player on a super max contract going forward, wolves will be deep and have so much more flexibility during Ant’s prime years.

Now we just gotta hope that a newly deeper wolves team can win the west and Randall and Donte fit the team like a glove and that the Detriot pick becomes pick #10 in the 2027 draft.

[Neeva]

Wolves are also clearly still a contender if anyone thought different. They still have their top 4 defensive players from last year and they are DEEP. They have naz, naw, donte, rob, ingles, garza all as just bench options. You can play pretty much any kind of lineup you want. Plus you have ant who should be ready for the big leap this year

TJ is gonna surprise this season as well.

[deepestblue]

Salary implications set aside for a moment:

Unlike so many athletes of the past, KAT never once complained about being "stuck" in Minnesota.

In fact, he embraced it, often referencing after a good win something to the effect that "we just went out there and played Timberwolves basketball."

This past season he had a stellar defensive rating.

He had become someone who you could easily see being the #2 option on a championship team.

Traded late at night on a Friday in September.

Say it isn't so.

KAT, thanks for everything.

Now go win a well-deserved championship like KG did. You surely deserve it after putting up with the haphazard franchise in Minnesota.

And once again the Wolves are the minor league farm team to the Bostons, New Yorks and Golden States of the world.

[guest81]

Salary implications set aside for a moment:

Unlike so many athletes of the past, KAT never once complained about being "stuck" in Minnesota.

In fact, he embraced it, often referencing after a good win something to the effect that "we just went out there and played Timberwolves basketball."

This past season he had a stellar defensive rating.

He had become someone who you could easily see being the #2 option on a championship team.

Traded late at night on a Friday in September.

Say it isn't so.

KAT, thanks for everything.

Now go win a well-deserved championship like KG did. You surely deserve it after putting up with the haphazard franchise in Minnesota.

And once again the Wolves are the minor league farm team to the Bostons, New Yorks and Golden States of the world.

When did he prove he could be a 2nd option on a championship team?

[NoStatsGuy]

dont know if any knicks were already here. didnt read all the pages.

but you guys are going to love donte. hes a baller and one of the best spot up guys in the league. as i see it, you traded a nice shooting big for a guy that has an insane motor and can create way better than towns plus a legit rotation player that you can rely on.

the fit for our teams is debatable and people will have different reactions and opinions about that. but let me tell you one thing, dont believe that narrative that is going around on realgm. Randle is an amazing teammate and if hes baught in he will be an amazing soldier. Theres not many defenders in the league that can stop julius. he wasnt 2 times all nba for nothing. now, i hope hes willing to buy in and maybe extend on a better contract. Hes not affraid of anything and will take on any challenge that is presented to him. he consistently improved with us and adepted to his new roles, which changed basically every other year.

i wasnt that high on KAT because i dont think hes made for the knicks. the fit might seem better on paper, but thats not always how it works. It hurts to see Julius go and im rooting for him to finally find a place that he can be successful with and be appreciated because hes working his butt off. I was alrady rooting for you guys to make it out west and i will keep a close eye on how it plays out for you guys.

what i would be interested in, can you guys give any input on the relationship between thibs and KAT, did it end really bad or is that just media stories? i find the fact, that jimmy and thibs didnt work out with KAT kind of alarming.

[deepestblue]

Sometimes being a Wolves fan feels like being a willing participant in a decades long detrimental psychological experiment. (Apt "punishment" for being a stooge for bread and circuses, I suppose).

That's why the game 7 win vs. Denver was so cathartic.

[Dewey]

Dump Kats $55 million salary in exchange for Randle, 3 pt shooter hustle guy, and 1st rd pick?? Count me in!!

[vtime]

I LOVE THE TRADE. Randle is a different player, but All NBA just like KAT. He can score as well, but differently than KAT. He is less efficient, but the better creator, more decisive with the ball, fearless, and won’t get those silly push-off, grabbing offensive fouls that KAT did so often. For Donte, you now have maybe 2 of the top 6th men in the league on the same team. He can also play pg, is playoff proven, a huge upgrade over KA, as good as he was.

[Guidus88]

I’m shocked and sad.

Could this increase the possibility to trade for KD bm before the deadline or next off season?

[shrink]

Could this increase the possibility to trade for KD bm before the deadline or next off season?

This year we are still above the second apron, so we can’t add salaries to match Durant.

I would hope that the plan is to let Randle walk next year, and use some of that savings to bring back Naz. It’s also possible ownership may not even do that. Next season they may just say, “yeah, we love Naz but we couldn’t afford him,” and just take the savings to reduce or even avoid lux taxes.

I love the idea of getting Durant, but with maxes on Ant and Gobert (unless he renegotiates), I think KD’s salary is just too high.

[minimus]

Read on Twitter

How I read it. First, we acquired who is better volume shooter than Klay Thompson and who is MUCH better defender than many other volume shooters on this chart including Bogdanovic, MPJ, Malik Beasley and Buddy Hield.

Second, we have Reid, who is also one of the best shooters.

[shrink]

When people try to understand this deal, one point that hasn’t been mentioned is that a GM needs to do deals he can justify to his corporate sponsors and ticket-buying fanbase. This often makes it complicated to trade a longtime star-player in a salary-cutting move that makes the team worse, if he can’t sell it to stake holders.

I’m no fan of Randle, but I can see how Tim Connelly could see him as a good distraction for less serious basketball minds. If Connelly was under orders to cut salary, he can still say “We loved Towns, but Randle gives us the chance to continue our goal of winning a championship with a true, All NBA power forward!” For example, if TC had traded Towns for expirings that couldn’t play, it would be much harder to sell stake holders that they should be all in on the team this year, since the organization certainly isn’t. Randle puts those expirings into a playable package.

[Statlanta]

Read on Twitter

I hate the trade. I felt like if KAT just learned to be more aggressive with both Rudy and Anthony on the floor they would have made the Dallas series more competitive even with the defensive problems.

Sacrificing chemistry and talent for depth imo makes no sense.