Just before the 2024/25 season began, the NBA witnessed a blockbuster transfer. The New York Knicks, a team with ambitions to reach the NBA Finals, made a deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves to acquire center Karl-Anthony Towns.

The Sporting News will provide details about this deal in the article below.

Details of the player exchange deal between the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves

New York Knicks receive:

• Karl-Anthony Towns

Minnesota Timberwolves receive:

• Julius Randle
• Donte DiVincenzo

What did the New York Knicks get from this deal?

For the New York Knicks, they are lacking quality players at the center position after Isaiah Hartenstein left, and Mitchell Robinson has been sick continuously. Previously, the New York Knicks were said to have paid attention to relatively quality players like Clint Capela or Isaiah Stewart, but no one could have thought that they would “go all in” to bring in a star player like Karl-Anthony Towns.

Karl-Anthony Towns will have the opportunity to reunite with his old coach Tom Thibodeau when they both wore the same Minnesota Timberwolves jersey from 2016 to 2019. With Towns, he will take on the role of the main center for the New York Knicks, ready to provide quality scoring ability thanks to his even skill set and the ability to shoot 3-pointers.

Last season, Karl-Anthony Towns averaged 21 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3 assists and a 41.6% 3-point shooting percentage. The New York Knicks haven’t made the Eastern Conference Finals since 2000 and they hope to change that with Karl-Anthony Towns.

However, this player has weaknesses in defense, as well as limited ability to cover the basket area. This is also the problem that Julius Randle encountered when playing for the New York Knicks. However, the New York Knicks can compensate for this weakness with good defensive wing players like Mikal Bridges or OG Anunoby.

What do the Minnesota Timberwolves get from this deal?

Losing Karl-Anthony Towns will certainly deprive the Timberwolves of a key scoring source. Julius Randle is a good player, but he cannot have the same versatility and effectiveness on the offensive line as the Dominican player.

However, the addition of Donte DiVincenzo would certainly give the Timberwolves’ backline a significant boost in quality. Not only is Donte DiVincenzo a versatile defender, he also averaged 18 points on 42% shooting last season. Therefore, Donte DiVincenzo could provide long-range firepower to support Mike Conley and Anthony Edwards when needed.

In addition, the salary issue is also the main reason forcing Minnesota Timberwolves to trade a veteran like Karl-Anthony Towns. This player still has 4 years left on his contract worth 220 million USD, causing Timberwolves to face difficult problems with luxury tax and financial burden for many years to come.

Meanwhile, Julius Randle has only 1 year left on his $28.9 million contract, with an automatic $30.9 million option for the 2025/26 season. Donte DiVincenzo has 3 years left on his contract, but is only worth $12 million.

Therefore, the Timberwolves can completely own a more flexible salary fund in the summer of 2025 in case Julius Randle does not choose to extend. This not only helps them better manage to build a squad around key players like Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert.

Has Karl-Anthony Towns proactively requested a trade?

The answer is no. Karl-Anthony Towns even expressed his “three dots” emotions on his personal social network before the news of this deal.

Karl-Anthony Towns was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with Pick 1 of the 2015 NBA Draft.