Knicks Waive 2 Players After Karl-Anthony Towns Trade

The New York Knicks have waived Marcus Morris Sr. and Chuma Okeke, the team announced on X on September 28.

The announcement came after multiple news outlets reported the Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed to a deal, sending Towns to New York in exchange for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and Detroit’s top-13 protected 2025 first-round pick.

The decision to cut Morris and Okeke was made to open up roster spots that will help facilitate the blockbuster Karl-Anthony Towns trade, according to The Athletic’s John Hollinger.

“Knicks now have three open roster spots to sign-and-trade the three players they need to complete this deal, DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr. and Duane Washington Jr,” Hollinger wrote on X. “I believe it has to be all three, adding to at least $6.2 million but at no more than 120% of their minimum, because BYC rules will screw up the matching if they tried a bigger number with just one or two.”

Because of salary cap complications as the Knicks and Timberwolves are apron teams, they needed a third team to complete the trade.

The Charlotte Hornets came on board and will absorb the players, whom the Knicks will sign, to their room exception to make the deal legal under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, Hollinger wrote in his column. In return, the Hornets will get draft assets, most probably future second-round pick/s.

Morris and Okeke previously signed Exhibit 9 deals with the Knicks.

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Donte DiVincenzo Greases Blockbuster Trade

The Knicks have regularly checked in with the Timberwolves about Towns but they were always rebuffed.

Not until they were willing to include Donte DiVincenzo in the deal, according to The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski.

“That is exactly what happened Friday as the Knicks added DiVincenzo to the package with Randle and the Pistons pick, which is top-13 protected next year, top-11 protected in 2026 and top-nine protected in 2027. When the Wolves looked at the deal in aggregate, they saw it as an opportunity to add some flexibility and build around burgeoning star Anthony Edwards for not just this season but the foreseeable future,” Krawczynski wrote.

DiVincenzo was deemed untouchable because he was part of the “Nova-Knicks” — the four players who were teammates at one point during Villanova’s national championship run in 2016 and 2018.

But coming off a career season, DiVincenzo was looking to build off of that.

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Donte DiVincenzo Wanted More Minutes

According to SNY’s Ian Begley, he was reluctant to welcome a reduced role with the arrival of Bridges, whom the Knicks acquired in July in another blockbuster trade.

“I can say confidently that DiVincenzo didn’t exactly love the idea of playing fewer minutes/a reduced role this season,” Begley reported in the aftermath of the trade. “He was coming off of a career year and helped the team win a ton of games when it was shorthanded.”

The Timberwolves coveted DiVincenzo during last year’s free agency. But the former Villanova guard ultimately chose the Knicks, which proved to be a wise decision.

DiVincenzo exploded.

With the Knicks’ multiple injuries last season, DiVincenzo took advantage of the opportunity. He made a career-high 283 3-pointers, a Knicks franchise record in his lone season in New York. He was the league’s third-most prolific 3-point shooter behind Stephen Curry (357) and Luka Doncic (284) last season.

Now, he’s headed to the Timberwolves to supply outside shooting and defense next to Anthony Edwards.

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