There are plenty of reasons for New York Knicks fans to be excited for Karl-Anthony Towns.
Let’s start local, with Towns’ North Jersey roots. He was born in Edison and grew up in Piscataway. No New Yorker will admit it—and I may get in trouble for spilling the tea—but that’s practically the sixth borough (And way better than Staten Island).
The seven-footer is also half-Dominican, so he’ll be right at home in a city where Dominicans make up almost 8% of the population. Get ready for lots of flags at MSG and for some victory bachata on the plaza after wins.
Best of all, of course, is that Karl-Anthony Towns finally gives the Knicks the dominant scoring center they’ve lacked every year under coach Tom Thibodeau. He averaged 21.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in Minnesota last year, making 50.4% of his field goals and shooting 41.6% from three. Towns also won the Three-Point Contest at All-Star Weekend in 2023 and has shot almost 40% from long range in his career, so this is no fluke.
Oh, and we should also note that he’s been playing out of position for two years. The Timberwolves trading for four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert bumped Towns from center to power forward. Accordingly, both his scoring and rebounding dipped with him out of the paint, but not by much.
In New York, he should go back to being the double-double machine he is at center.
Of course, some Knicks fans will be disappointed with the trade too. Julius Randle was popular and became a star playing for Thibodeau. Donte DiVincenzo gained almost Larry Johnson-like Knicks street cred in just one season, plus some playoff heroics. Why break up the band when they were just getting started, and with Mikal Bridges waiting in the wings?
As always, it was the perfect storm of both business and basketball.
On the basketball side, the Knicks desperately needed some size. Mitchell Robinson’s continued recovery from ankle surgery left Randle and youngster Jericho Sims as the options at center. Losing Isaiah Hartenstein to the Thunder in free agency hurt New York’s depth, and going all-in on Sims’ rumored budding jump shot would be too risky. Karl-Anthony Towns immediately fills that void.
And on the business side, perhaps the Knicks avoided a potential disaster. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported New York wasn’t making progress on extending Randle. Multiple sources have also reported DiVincenzo not being fully on-board with the “Nova Knicks” idea. Understandable, especially considering he’d be demoted to bench shooter/sixth man after starting 76 of 94 total games played. DiVincenzo also averaged a career-best 15.5 points per game with the Knicks.
One man wasn’t happy about a reduced role after proving his worth as a starter. Another has a reputation for being moody and letting it affect his play on the court. Trading Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Towns may sound expensive, but ultimately improves the Knicks.
Towns’ ability to score from anywhere opens up the offense for point guard Jalen Brunson. This also helps Robinson, who’s now better serving the Knicks as a dominant bench big. Bridges, the NBA’s current Iron Man, offers a similar skillset to DiVincenzo’s, only not so reliant on three-pointers.
It also helps that the four-year, $224 million supermax extension Towns signed with Minnesota in 2022 starts this season. He’s not just a hired gun in New York. He’s here to build along with Brunson.
And come the playoffs, assuming everyone is healthy, fans should be ecstatic about Karl-Anthony Towns. Slowing down a Joel Embiid or a Myles Turner doesn’t seem as daunting anymore. Even three-time MVP Nikola Jokic seems manageable.
Mark it down, fans. The New York Knicks will be back with a vengeance next year, and better than we’ve seen them in a long time.
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