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

[Note30]

KAT is nowhere close to KG so it's not a great comparison.

Realistically people should be taking a second to contemplate whether their valuations of KAT's trade value might have been wrong. In typical fashion the majority are burying their heads in the sand and screaming that everyone that doesn't agree with them is an idiot.

It's not about trade value it's about what he meant to this franchise. Yes he's not KG but he is one the most tenured players here. He represents a whole decade and all the good and bad times had. To just cast him aside for two players who are objectively worse is disgusting. What's even worse than that is the manner in which it happened.

Things are deeper than a representation on an Excel sheet somewhere. It's a sport and we are fans. If we were at Morgan Stanley crunching numbers on some commodity that's one thing, but this is inherently emotional or we wouldn't be investing time and energy into this.

Cast him aside? Give me a break. We sent him to an Eastern contender, to (roughly) his home town and one of the premier markets in the league. I'd argue we did him a favour honestly, the Knicks have a better chance of winning the title than we do (with or without KAT).

If you want to care about "tenure" then that's your choice, personally I don't. He's a nice guy and I wish him well, but he was just a repeat of Kevin Love. The only difference is he stuck around to get supermaxed.

You don't deserve to see your teams win if this is what you think of Towns.

[Sothron]

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?

[Neeva]

I am disgusted by this trade. Randle is a bum. DD is a backup SG. The first from Detroit? Yeah, that's one of those horrible fake firsts that has so many protections it will never convey.

So we give up the best shooting big man in NBA history, a key piece to a team that was poised to go to the Finals for the first time...for this **** platter. This is KG for Al Jefferson 2.0 with the key difference being Al Jefferson was actually good. Randle is a bum. He's one of, if not the, most overrated player in the NBA because he played in NY.

It also sounds like KAT found out through this on Twitter/X instead of being told by the team. Just sad.

Why didn’t your hawks get Kat, you just let the **** knicks take him for trash and donte?

[Sothron]

I am disgusted by this trade. Randle is a bum. DD is a backup SG. The first from Detroit? Yeah, that's one of those horrible fake firsts that has so many protections it will never convey.

So we give up the best shooting big man in NBA history, a key piece to a team that was poised to go to the Finals for the first time...for this **** platter. This is KG for Al Jefferson 2.0 with the key difference being Al Jefferson was actually good. Randle is a bum. He's one of, if not the, most overrated player in the NBA because he played in NY.

It also sounds like KAT found out through this on Twitter/X instead of being told by the team. Just sad.

Why didn’t your hawks get Kat, you just let the **** knicks take him for trash and donte?

Hawks tried for years to get KAT and it just never worked out. Either MINN was asking for too much or the Hawks didn't want to pay the LT...which is really what the problem was. The Hawks owner is the sixth or seventh richest billionaire owner in the entire NBA...and has paid the luxury tax zero times in all his years of owning the team. He won't pay it. Getting KAT on his supermax would have sent the Hawks into the tax and Tony Ressler refuses to pay it.

So now I, as a Hawks and Twolf fan, have to watch Randle's fat ass lumber around giving zero effort and being an inefficient chucker on the Twolves and watch KAT take it to my Hawks. It's literally insult to injury.

[Note30]

I am disgusted by this trade. Randle is a bum. DD is a backup SG. The first from Detroit? Yeah, that's one of those horrible fake firsts that has so many protections it will never convey.

So we give up the best shooting big man in NBA history, a key piece to a team that was poised to go to the Finals for the first time...for this **** platter. This is KG for Al Jefferson 2.0 with the key difference being Al Jefferson was actually good. Randle is a bum. He's one of, if not the, most overrated player in the NBA because he played in NY.

It also sounds like KAT found out through this on Twitter/X instead of being told by the team. Just sad.

Why didn’t your hawks get Kat, you just let the **** knicks take him for trash and donte?

At least in NY he has a chance to win. ATL is in rebuild for the foreseeable future.

[younggunsmn]

For the record, I don't love or hate this deal. I pitched something similar to this a while back and made my case then so I won't rehash the whole thing, but the short version is that statistically Randle gives you something like 75% of KAT's production for 60% of the cost. In the modern NBA that's important. Donte is great too, although that pick is window dressing unless the Pistons have a magical season.

I do think people were always overrating Towns' trade value. For as good as he is, there's plenty of other elements that drag him down including:
- Overpaid: Even with the rising cap his supermax was massive and isn't getting better. It's also incredibly unlikely he would have even qualified under the new positionless system.
- Injury issues: He's only played over 70 games once in the last 5 seasons and has had persistent knee issues that have kept him out for extended periods. This is unlikely to get better and is more likely to get worse as he ages and plays more minutes.
- Playoff struggles: While he played well against Denver the general consensus always seemed to be that he was a net minus in the playoffs. Whether that matches personal opinion is irrelevant, since that was a persistent talking point from people plugged into FOs.
- Turnovers/General BBIQ issues: We all saw the baby deer drives into the paint, the constant offensive fouls, the brain dead decisions to close games. If we saw them, so did everyone else in the league.

I'll see how this plays out. Everyone hated the Rudy trade but it led to our best season in 20 years.

The problem isn't Randle giving you 75% of KAT's production, the problem is Randle having 75% of KAT's efficiency.
Randle actually compares quite favorably if you look at raw points, rebounds, and assists per minute.
The problem is he is terribly, terribly inefficient and loves to shoot threes but sucks badly at it.


I look at him as salary filler and an expiring contract that they are hoping can give us one good year, then leave and hopefully allow us to re-sign Naz Reid next summer for the long term.

Finch coached Randle in New Orleans the year he blew up.
Maybe that will mean something and he guys into our system and plays a more efficient game.
But how is a guy who has traditionally had such massive usage and whose success revolves around bullying guys in the paint fit in with Ant and Gobert?

I'm hoping there is another trade on the horizon.
His contract isn't terrible and there is still the possibility we break him into smaller pieces.

[Sothron]

I am disgusted by this trade. Randle is a bum. DD is a backup SG. The first from Detroit? Yeah, that's one of those horrible fake firsts that has so many protections it will never convey.

So we give up the best shooting big man in NBA history, a key piece to a team that was poised to go to the Finals for the first time...for this **** platter. This is KG for Al Jefferson 2.0 with the key difference being Al Jefferson was actually good. Randle is a bum. He's one of, if not the, most overrated player in the NBA because he played in NY.

It also sounds like KAT found out through this on Twitter/X instead of being told by the team. Just sad.

Why didn’t your hawks get Kat, you just let the **** knicks take him for trash and donte?

At least in NY he has a chance to win. ATL is in rebuild for the foreseeable future.

Eh, no. We don't have our first round picks for the next 3 years in a row. You aren't rebuilding when you don't control your picks.

[KATKlownFeet]

The incompetence of this franchise never disappoints. Whenever I feel any hope for the Wolves long term, they make an idiotic soulcrushing trade. No wonder this organization is worst in the NBA. A bunch of losers including Taylor, Lore, ARod and TC. They all suck. I just have no hope for the Wolves ever winning a title while in Minnesota. After trading KAT for garbage, the Wolves deserve to miss playoffs and I'll laugh at the idiots who thought this was a good trade.

[KATKlownFeet]

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?

KAT's mom died, but his dad and sister survived. I don't know how that equates to "almost his entire family" dying.

[younggunsmn]

Let's call this what it is, a salary dump.

This has been coming since the moment he signed that supermax.
We waited too long, if we were going to do this, should have pulled the trigger in june or july.
But if we had waited longer, and he gets injured again, he's untradeable and there is no way out of the salary mess.

We got one decent player on a below market contract, a bum on an essentially expiring contract, and a mostly worthless draft pick.

That's a lot less than we got for KG, even if that didn't work out very well.

Now next summer maybe we re-sign Naz Reid.
Maybe we extend Gobert for 2 or 3 years at half of what he is making now.

[shangrila]

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?

Unless the team injected COVID into their veins bringing that up as if its in any way relevant is completely asinine.

He's also been sent to a title contender in a marquee market near his home town. The team didn't ship him to Detroit or Atlanta. Let's slow down on the "cast aside" nonsense.

[Sothron]

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?

KAT's mom died, but his dad and sister survived. I don't know how that equates to "almost his entire family" dying.

Um.. he lost his mom AND seven other family members. If that's not almost his entire family its pretty damn close.

[shangrila]

For the record, I don't love or hate this deal. I pitched something similar to this a while back and made my case then so I won't rehash the whole thing, but the short version is that statistically Randle gives you something like 75% of KAT's production for 60% of the cost. In the modern NBA that's important. Donte is great too, although that pick is window dressing unless the Pistons have a magical season.

I do think people were always overrating Towns' trade value. For as good as he is, there's plenty of other elements that drag him down including:
- Overpaid: Even with the rising cap his supermax was massive and isn't getting better. It's also incredibly unlikely he would have even qualified under the new positionless system.
- Injury issues: He's only played over 70 games once in the last 5 seasons and has had persistent knee issues that have kept him out for extended periods. This is unlikely to get better and is more likely to get worse as he ages and plays more minutes.
- Playoff struggles: While he played well against Denver the general consensus always seemed to be that he was a net minus in the playoffs. Whether that matches personal opinion is irrelevant, since that was a persistent talking point from people plugged into FOs.
- Turnovers/General BBIQ issues: We all saw the baby deer drives into the paint, the constant offensive fouls, the brain dead decisions to close games. If we saw them, so did everyone else in the league.

I'll see how this plays out. Everyone hated the Rudy trade but it led to our best season in 20 years.

The problem isn't Randle giving you 75% of KAT's production, the problem is Randle having 75% of KAT's efficiency.
Randle actually compares quite favorably if you look at raw points, rebounds, and assists per minute.
The problem is he is terribly, terribly inefficient and loves to shoot threes but sucks badly at it.


I look at him as salary filler and an expiring contract that they are hoping can give us one good year, then leave and hopefully allow us to re-sign Naz Reid next summer for the long term.

Finch coached Randle in New Orleans the year he blew up.
Maybe that will mean something and he guys into our system and plays a more efficient game.
But how is a guy who has traditionally had such massive usage and whose success revolves around bullying guys in the paint fit in with Ant and Gobert?

I'm hoping there is another trade on the horizon.
His contract isn't terrible and there is still the possibility we break him into smaller pieces.

In terms of offence, the Knicks were 3rd and 7th in Offensive Rating the last 2 seasons with Randle playing alongside Robinson/Hartenstein so it can work. I'd argue Randle is the better decision maker as well which, while not a high bar to cross when comparing to Towns, is still significant.

I have a feeling you're right about Randle being more of an expiring than a future piece though. This whole trade is probably more of an endorsement of Naz than anything else (and I guess a commitment to the Ant-Jaden-Naz core). I do believe Randle can be a decent player, but if he leaves...meh. I'd also rather have Reid on a Jaden McDaniels-esque contract (I assume he'd get around that?) than KAT on his supermax, especially since it seemed like an either or situation with them.

[Neeva]

I just wish the Wolves got better picks, a much lesser player and never all star Bridges got a boat load of picks, Kat will easily be an all star in the east and we got one???

[FrenchMinnyFan]

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?

I can understand the emotion as i feel exactly the same when Mike was trade to Utah. But no hard feeling, NBA is a business and KAT make 50 Millions ++ per year. At that level, you are a product that can be sell.
It does not change the fact that we should be grateful for him being loyal to the Wolves but at the end, TC does his job. Keep the team competitive ( if not even better) and save money which was probably a owner requirement.

[Sothron]

I just wish the Wolves got better picks, a much lesser player and never all star Bridges got a boat load of picks, Kat will easily be an all star in the east and we got one???

I agree with you. The Detroit first is not a real pick. It is a fake first. The protections on it mean it will only convey in several years to a single 2nd round pick which is worthless.

[minimus]

Damn, I have flashbacks for Grit and Grind MEM era:

Gobert - Gasol = DPOY
Randle - Randolph = physical enforcer, tough guy
McDaniels - Allen = DPOY
Conley - Conley = Conley

[Shaka_Zulu]

What the **** are we **** doing? What contender salary dumps? Ffs, why can't we have nice things? This ENTIRE deal is shameless salary dump. There's no point talking basketball aspects.


We want to contend or nah? Kat has huge contract and been somewhat dissapointing in crunch time. But he is an elite 2nd option. An expiring illfitting non shooting point forward PF who won't be here next season, a cheap good 3nD point specialist BACKUP SG (I'm a fan, but not as most talented piece in Kat haul), and a pick that will turn out to be 2nd rounder. Because there's no way Pistons will get pick outside top 11-13 coming 3 seasons.



So I ask again, we want to contend or nah? It leads on nah, because what contender salary dumps their most EFFICIENT spaced out scorer, when the main weakness of entire team is scoring and especially perimeter scoring.



I repeat, contenders don't salary dump elite talents with deals like this. Its just Wolves being Wolves.

[Wolves21]

Is this the ideal trade for Towns probably not but is it trash like most people are making it out to be no. This isn't just a trade for this season but a big picture one. Randle is like a B+ version of Towns,he's not a bum that most are making him out to be. He'll have a much different role on the Wolves then he did with the Knicks when he was the #1 guy before Brunson should up. He's really here for just the season and after will walk if he declines his player option and if he doesn't can be filliped for other assists.

Everyone knew that once we trade for Gobert that Towns had to be trade in the next two to three years. No way could you basically have 3 guys on a close to SUPER MAX deals and why would you want two of them on the other side of 30. This deal now also helps us long term buy giving us the cap room once Randle walks or is traded to resign Naz which is key and what TC long term plan is. He's build a core of Edwards,Reid & McDaniels and everyone else is expendable. While DDV also give you a 6th man off the bench and great bench piece once Naz moves into the starting rotation in a year or so and also gives you insurance if we can't or wont resign NAW.

This again has to be viewed as long term play more then just this season.TC is think about '25,'26..ect seasons while also trying to win now and keep our title window open for years to come.

Think of it like this the long term starting five will be Dillingham(if he pans out),Edwards,McDaniels,Reid and ???? with DDV as the 6th man. Nobody listed will be on a MAX or SUPER MAX deal besides Edwards and will have the cap room and assist once moving on from Gobert & Randle to hopefully land a Robin to Edwards Batman and the last piece of the starting five.

[minimus]

TC traded Towns who is from New Jersey to NYK. TC traded Towns to contender. TC traded Towns to East.

Randle (expiring), DDV (young, but experienced player on team friendly deal), FRP. Exactly what I've expected.