Getty Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves shoots the ball as Mitchell Robinson #23 of the New York Knicks defends.
ESPN NBA senior reporter Zach Lowe pitched a hypothetical trade package that will bring Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks.
His pitch to longtime Knicks fan Jason Concepcion, co-host of the Six Trophies podcast, was a draft-heavy compensation package for Towns.
“Let me pitch you on this, Jason: Immanuel Quickley, Evan Fournier, other matching salary that’s not RJ Barrett and five first-round picks (three from other teams with protection) and two Knicks picks for Karl-Anthony Towns,” Lowe said on the October 20 episode of “The Lowe Post” podcast.
Concepcion said that the Knicks should seriously consider it with the premise that Towns is the best available player on the trade market.
Then Lowe up the ante.
“What if [Timberwolves president] Tim Connelly says, ‘You know what, we’re almost there. I got to have Barrett,'” Lowe said.
“RJ is a jack of a lot of trades and probably a master of none. To be fair to him, he’s a solid player, but I would I’d probably say yes, honestly. This is again assuming that the Knicks reasonably believe that [Towns] is the best player available to them,” Concepcion replied.
The Towns-to-the-Knicks rumors gained steam after he revealed that he had long buried the hatchet with Tom Thibodeau, his former coach at Minnesota and current Knicks coach.
Towns was spotted dapping his former agent and current Knicks president Leon Rose, ex-Timberwolves president and current Knicks vice president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas and team owner James Dolan before their preseason game last week.
Knicks president Leon Rose, with owner James Dolan & SVP Gersson Rosas, calls over Karl—Anthony Towns pregame
The three-time All-Star big man is coming off an injury-riddled season. But he’s been healthy and on a tear since his FIBA World Cup run with the Dominican Republic.
Towns is averaging 17 points on 39% 3-point shooting in just 20 minutes in this preseason.
Joel Embiid Won’t Lead Knicks to Title, Says Insider
Aside from Towns, Joel Embiid is the other NBA star linked to the Knicks. But even if they pull off a mega-trade to land the reigning MVP, their title drought will continue, according to Fox Sports’ Chris Broussard.
“There is scuttlebutt in some corners of the league that Embiid wants to go to New York,” Broussard said on FS1’s “First Things First” on Thursday. “Now he’s not going to come up and say it because he doesn’t want the backlash from fans in Philly. But yea, there is scuttlebutt that he has his eyes on New York, but look, we always associate the Knicks with all these great players on other teams, so I’m not going to count on that… but Embiid wouldn’t lead them to a championship. I’m sorry. He wouldn’t.”
Knicks Make Roster Moves
The Knicks announced they had signed Mamadi Diakite and Brandon Goodwin after waiving Nathan Knight, Isaiah Roby and Jaylen Martin.
The 6-foot-9 Diakite spent last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, averaging 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds. He won a national championship with the Virginia Cavaliers in 2019.
Goodwin played for the Westchester Knicks in 2021 before returning to the NBA with the Cavaliers, first on a 10-day contract, later converted to a two-way deal last season.