The night that Karl-Anthony Towns was traded to the New York Knicks will likely be forever etched into the minds of Minnesota Timberwolves fans. It was a pivotal moment that effectively signaled the end of one era for the franchise, and the beginning of another.
KAT meant the world to the Timberwolves organization, and he is still in the hearts of countless Wolves fans around the globe. It feels like the connection between Towns and Minnesota is not one that will instantly dissipate, even with him moving on to a new team.
Recently, KAT went on the Roommates Show hosted by his new teammates, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart. While talking with the two, Towns revealed some intriguing new details regarding the night the blockbuster trade went down. According to KAT, he did not know about the trade happening until mere minutes before everything happened.
"It was a long day," KAT said. "I was in the facility too, I worked out. Everything was cool, and then at night, everything wasn't cool." Most will remember on the night of the trade, KAT posted simply "..." from his account on X, which many took to mean that he did not know about the trade and was completely blindsided. As it turns out, that is not completely true.
Tim Connelly went to KAT's house 4 minutes before trade was announced
While Towns did not have much time after finding out about the deal until it happened, he was in fact given prior notice. When asked how much time he had to ponder the situation before Shams Charania's tweet went out, KAT told it like it is. "Four minutes," he said. "By the time the shock wore off, Shams had already tweeted."
Despite only getting four minutes' notice, Towns was not told over the phone about the trade like many players are. KAT revealed that Tim Connelly came to his house by himself to personally deliver the news. "It was gangster, I ain't gonna lie," said Towns. "I respect it. Honestly, it's a tough situation regardless of what would've happened. The fact that it happened that way, I got to give him respect.
"Because it was me, three of my closest friends and my pops. So, shoutout to . He came to a house by himself with five dudes there. We could've just started spazzing out and crashed out ... So I got to give him respect for that, for sure." All things considered, it seems like KAT handled things very professionally in this situation. As he said, things could have gotten a lot more hectic, and it was certainly very big of Connelly to tell Towns to his face.
Losing KAT will still hurt for a while for many Timberwolves fans. But knowing that he respects how the organization handled the whole trade situation has to at least soften some of the blow.