With Karl-Anthony Towns trade official, Knicks can start putting pieces together
Then-Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns is defended by Nets guard Dennis Smith Jr. in the first half of an NBA game at Barclays Center on Jan. 25. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Knicks had sweated through three workouts at The Citadel, likely no less grueling than the drills being conducted by the cadets fast-walking around the campus, when the official word finally came down that the NBA had put the stamp of approval on the trade for Karl-Anthony Towns.
The deal, the worst-kept secret in the NBA, sends Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and Keita Bates-Diop to Minnesota and a complicated package of salary-matching pieces to the Charlotte Hornets to make the math work. Most important for the Knicks, after nearly a week waiting to piece all of the components together, they can get Towns into uniform and on the practice floor Wednesday night to begin work on what many see as a title contender.
“We are beyond excited to welcome Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks family,” Knicks president Leon Rose said in a statement. “Karl-Anthony brings a skill set that is unique to the game of basketball. He possesses a blend of playmaking, shooting, rebounding and defending that in combination with his size allows him to compete at a level that is rare in this league. Karl-Anthony has demonstrated throughout his career to be a high caliber player and person on and off the court who will complement the type of team and culture we continue to build in New York.”
All week the Knicks had to dance around the impending arrival. The front office and Tom Thibodeau were unable to speak publicly about Towns and players coyly joked their way through most of their references to Towns. But with the lofty aspirations the team holds, the desire to stop wasting time and begin the work was palpable.
Asked if the absence through the early workouts was a setback for Towns, Josh Hart said jokingly, “I don’t know. I think he can still put the ball in the basket so he’ll be all right.”
But the reality was that the Knicks do need to get these pieces all in place.
“Yes and no,” Thibodeau said. “Obviously, you’d like to have everybody here but reality is we don’t. And what it does do is gets us to look at different combinations a little earlier in camp, stuff we were planning on doing anyway. So we get to those things first. So it’s going to invert the order a little bit. But we’ll get to everything eventually. We look at training camp basically the whole month.”
The Knicks are implementing nearly a completely new starting lineup from Opening Day last season; Jalen Brunson is the only one back. Hart became a starter during the season and OG Anunoby joined the team in a New Year’s Eve trade but was hurt for much of the season after arriving. Mikal Bridges is a new piece and now Towns joins the party.
“I think it takes a little bit of time,” Hart said. “For me, I haven’t played with that many shooting bigs in my career so I’m looking forward to someone we can isolate on the post, make good decisions, put the ball in the basket. I’m going to tell him whenever I get a rebound and run, just trail to the three-point line. I’m sure he’ll get some open threes that way. It’s going to take some time just to get the feeling down. Obviously JB, Mikal, myself, we played together for a while. OG’s played with JB and myself for a handful of games. It’s going to take a little bit and that’s what training camp and preseason are for — so we can hit the ground running on the 22nd.”
Rose praises Randle and DiVincenzo
In the statement, Rose spoke of the departing players, including DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr. and Duane Washington who went to Charlotte. “I want to sincerely thank Julius for his contributions to both the Knicks organization and our community. An All-Star and All-NBA player, Julius worked tirelessly day in and day out to represent the Knicks organization with grit, grace and tremendous skill. Julius played a major role in establishing the foundation and culture of our team and we cannot thank Julius enough for what he did for this city and organization both on and off the court.
“Over the last year, Donte not only captivated the city with one of the most iconic shots in Knicks history, but also immediately bought into the culture we were building here and was an example on and off the court from the moment he arrived as a Knick. We wish Julius, Donte, Charlie, DaQuan, Duane and Keita all the best moving forward and thank them for all their contributions to our team.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
