How the Knicks and Wolves’ unique problems led to this unlikely trade

It’s rare for championship contenders to do business with each other, and you don’t have to look far back to understand why.

A year ago this week, the Milwaukee Bucks made a blockbuster trade with the Portland Trail Blazers to acquire Damian Lillard, but that inadvertently resulted in Jrue Holiday ending up with the Boston Celtics. Holiday proved to be the crucial final piece in Boston’s quest to build a championship team within the Milwaukee Conference.

But the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves each had unique problems, and they were each other’s best solution. This resulted in an awkward and unexpected alliance that resulted in two prospects trading two former All-NBA players – Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle – just before the start of training camp, as juicy a move as has ever been seen in September.

The Knicks’ problems started at center, particularly because there was no starting position. New York has built a wall around the extent of starter Mitchell Robinson’s foot problems – Leon Rose’s administration is good at keeping secrets, which has helped keep the Knicks from losing leverage in these trade talks. But internally, New York expects Robinson to be out for at least three more months. Will there be more? Hopefully not, but no one knows for sure. Isaiah Hartenstein, who served as Robinson’s backup the past two seasons and started 49 games in his absence last season, has already left free agency, leaving New York dangerously thin — and short — up front.

Meanwhile, there was no progress over the summer in contract extension talks with Randle, who is expected to hit free agency in 2025. Randle, an all-star in each of the last two seasons, had watched the franchise completely change around him over the course of the year. In the last nine months, he was unsure where exactly he fit into a team centered around Jalen Brunson and former Villanova teammates would fit. Randle knew he would likely play a lot of heavy minutes out of the center position in what turned out to be a contract year.

There’s also this: If there was a player Rose coveted more than Brunson, a de facto member of his family, when he was hired as Knicks president in 2020, it might be Towns. Both have deep roots in Jersey. Rose had bonded with Towns since he was a teenager and was by his side as his agent from his time at Kentucky to the No. 1 overall pick to his rise to maximum contract player.

And now Towns was more available than ever. The Wolves are trying to win a championship amid a financial and ownership crisis.

Minnesota, a franchise that has generally operated frugally for decades, faced a loss of more than $100 million this season because of a massive luxury tax bill associated with the new contracts for Towns and Anthony Edwards, according to sources. But it’s not just about this year; The next few years may be financially punishing.

Attorneys for longtime owner Glen Taylor and the prospective ownership group led by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez are scheduled to begin arbitration on Nov. 4. A decision is expected in the new year.

After the summer discovery process, Lore’s group has become confident it will win and has gotten all its finances in order, sources said. They plan to complete the process with an escrow account of more than $900 million and the support of billionaire Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Sources say they will also report over $200 million in working capital, proving they can complete the purchase of the final 60% of the $1.5 billion deal and then fund potentially large losses in the future.

But even if Taylor is found to have violated the terms of the sales agreement when he took the team off the market last spring, the arbitrator’s decision won’t be the final word. The other 29 governors will vote on the sale. If Taylor no longer wants to sell, will his partners of the last four decades turn against him? Lore could win in court but lose entry into the club, which is why he and Rodriguez have spent the last year drumming up support in dozens of meetings with other owners. It looks like lawsuits are definitely coming.

Meanwhile, Wolves team president Tim Connelly has one of the best executive deals in all of sports. He has a lucrative $40 million contract to lead the team and has negotiated an exit clause so he can leave at virtually any time, especially because he has no idea who his boss will be. He could be one of the most sought-after free agents in the summer of 2025.

And while Connelly built a squad that reached the conference finals in 2024 – it was only the second time in franchise history that the Timberwolves advanced past the first round of the playoffs – Minnesota’s situation became more complicated when Edwards got into that last season All-NBA Team, earning him a $41 million contract increase. It’s worth every penny, but it’s no longer a bargain.

Towns is starting a four-year, $224 million contract extension he signed back in 2022 when he looked like the franchise’s pivotal player. Actually, Towns, not unlike Randle, had seen his role change since that deal, having become a willing supporter of Edwards.

Last year, Towns was immensely proud of earning a spot on the All-Star team as he handed the reins over to Edwards. Towns had previously asked Connelly for assurances that he would not be traded because he wanted to be comfortable in the role. Connelly, who has built strong teams in Denver and now Minnesota, said all the right things in their meetings but ultimately failed to deliver on that promise, sources said. To be fair, looking at this landscape he couldn’t.

While this was all unfolding, one of Connelly’s great moves, retaining backup center Naz Reid, became a masterstroke. Reid emerged as the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year with an average of 13.5 points per game and a 41.4% shooting percentage from 3-point range. Reid is no Towns, but he is an excellent long-range shooter who plays very effectively with defensive ace Rudy Gobert.

Gobert and Reid have player options for next season, and while Gobert probably won’t leave his $46 million on the table, it was almost impossible to imagine the Wolves having them both along with Town’s $53 million a year would pay in 2025/26 (Reid is certain). to earn $15 million if he exercises his option).

Add it all up and you see how late on a Friday night in September Towns was sent after Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

The Knicks get their franchise center – affordable thanks to Brunson, who is now inexplicably the team’s third-highest paid player after leaving $113 million on the table in his summer extension – and the Wolves save eight figures and possibly ten figures from more this year million in the coming seasons while also creating more space for Reid and bolstering their bench with a great shooter.

When the smoke clears on all of this, it becomes clear how difficult it was to pull off. According to sources, several players will be signed and traded to make this happen with the support of the Charlotte Hornets.

The Knicks are expected to turn themselves into a formidable pretzel, not giving up any more rotation players, sources said, and somehow getting less than $200,000 under the second apron, which they are not allowed to breach, and paying multiple draft picks, to grease them.

It’s not clear whether Randle will be comfortable enough with the situation to extend his contract in Minnesota or whether the Wolves can even afford him. Or, honestly, who gets to make that decision on the team side.

It’s debatable whether the Knicks should have taken a few months to observe their new Villanova-laden team to see 1) Randle’s ability to play center, 2) Mitchell’s progress post-surgery, 3) what other centers may have become available on the market.

But it’s also not unreasonable to imagine the Wolves and Knicks facing off in the Finals next June. And that is ultimately the end result.