The New York Knicks have high hopes for the 2025-26 season, set to bring back all of their top contributors from last year, as well as adding some bench depth. While they prepare for another deep run after their first conference finals appearance in 25 years, expectations for this Knicks team are the highest since the 1990s.
In what will be a major part in their success next season, Karl-Anthony Towns is entering his second full season in New York after being traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves just weeks before the start of last year.
Speaking in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Towns recalled the trade and leaving the team where he spent the first nine seasons of his career.
“Obviously it stung. I called that place home for nine years,” Towns said about being traded to the Knicks from the Timberwolves. “I’ve built my life there, I’ve had so many memories there. So, it’s kind of like that first breakup. It was tough.”
While Towns had turned himself into one of the most prolific players for the Timberwolves, he quickly found his place on the Knicks once he was traded. In his first season in New York, he averaged 24.4 points and 12.8 rebounds on 52.7% shooting, all a leap from his numbers the previous two seasons.
Towns On The Trade And Playing In New York
Just before the start of the 2024-25 season, the Knicks sent a massive haul to Minnesota for Towns. The full trade included New York sending Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for the star center, with other assets, players, and picks going to the Charlotte Hornets as a third-team partner to make the deal work.
While Towns was leaving the team he was drafted by and helped develop him into one of the best centers in the NBA, he said the move to New York wasn’t all that bad.
“It was pretty cool,” Towns said when learning about the Knicks’ trade, close to where he grew up in New Jersey. “Obviously coming back home… So for (my grandmother) to now come to the games and see all the love fans are showing, it makes it all worth it.”
Towns slid into the center role well for the Knicks under Thibodeau, a coach he spent multiple years with in Minnesota. But after his best offensive season in a few years and the Knicks’ Eastern Conference Finals run, Thibodeau was fired to bring in Mike Brown as the new head coach.
Speaking in an interview with Time Magazine, Towns said he was surprised by the firing, and didn’t want the ‘instability‘ that typically comes with a rotating cast of coaches.
“I didn’t know what was happening. I just knew that I left to finally get some R & R, and I’m hearing the news, so obviously I was surprised, like the rest of the world,” Towns said. “I’ve always had instability in my career. You always think the best, and you also expect the worst. So you never know.”
Towns did say he was excited to work with Brown, but wasn’t expecting the coaching turnover.
Set For A Massive Knicks‘ Season
Now under new leadership, expectations for the Knicks are perhaps even higher than last season. They are set to bring back Towns, along with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Mitchell Robinson. New York also added Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele to come off the bench, adding rotational depth now that Thibodeau and his star-heavy style are out.
Now set for his second full season with the Knicks, many have high expectations for Towns. With some of the struggles on defense, there is hope that Brown’s new style for the team will benefit the center on both sides of the ball.
“Mike Brown will be entrusted to unlock the chemistry between his pair of All-NBA talents, as well as locating Towns’ ideal fit on defense,” Henry Brown wrote for Sports Illustrated. “Brown’s a much more creative offensive game-planner than Thibodeau was, opening the door for an optimal situation for his shiniest frontcourt weapon.”
The defense remains a question for Towns, but with the option to start both he and Robinson, Brown can spread the floor on both sides of the ball with the two seven-footers on the court together.
In a recent center rankings list by The Athletic, Towns ranked in the third tier, sixth overall. He was behind Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, and Bam Adebayo, but remains one of the top big men in the league, and perhaps the best shooter of all the frontcourt players in the NBA.
The Knicks are a top title favorite in the East next season, especially after the injuries to some of the other top players in the conference.
Knicks $220M Star Reveals True Feelings On Trade, New Coach