The Minnesota Timberwolves are bidding farewell to their former franchise cornerstone and one of the best-shooting big men in the entire NBA. After Karl-Anthony Towns was shockingly traded on Friday evening, Minnesota will head into a season without KAT on their roster for the first time in a decade.
The deal was ultimately made as a cost-cutting move. The Timberwolves would have of course loved to keep Towns in a Minnesota uniform until the day he retired, but that became a much harder reality to achieve when he signed his four-year, $220 million extension in 2022. All of a sudden, retaining KAT became a major financial burden.
Obviously, the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement did not make this any simpler. In fact, it all but eliminated the possibility of keeping every member of this Western Conference Finals team together long-term. The only option left was the most difficult one imaginable. If the Wolves had not traded KAT, they would have eventually had to give up Naz Reid and Nickeil-Alexander Walker.
Now, new details have come out about the process behind getting the trade done. According to top NBA insider Shams Charania, the New York Knicks contacted the Timberwolves about trading for Towns multiple times before Minnesota finally agreed to oblige.
Shams on KAT: “This is something Knicks were quietly working on for months. Draft night they offered Randle & Mitchell Robinson…hard no. They continued to offer that, no…Finally put DiVincenzo in—still no, but open window…Put the 1st in on Friday & got this massive deal done” pic.twitter.com/Odnpq4zWBz
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) October 1, 2024
Shams: Minnesota turned New York down at least twice
Shams reported that the Knicks first contacted the Wolves back on draft night in June, attempting to get a big blockbuster deal done. At the time, New York offered Julius Randle along with Mitchell Robinson, which Shams says Minnesota gave a "hard no" to.
This is a relief to hear, because the Timberwolves giving up KAT for just Randle and Robinson would have felt like a big undersell. Shams says the Knicks continued to offer that same package, and the Wolves kept turning it down. From there, New York budged and included Donte DiVincenzo in their next offer, to which Minnesota still said no to.
But after the Knicks decided to include the first-round pick they threw in on Friday, that was the breaking point that made the Timberwolves decide it was probably a good idea to take advantage of this opportunity. It seems that Tim Connelly was playing a little bit of hard ball, and it ended up paying off.
Wolves fans will not be shocked by this. Connelly is as clever as they come in these dealings, and he was not going to let Towns go for at least a reasonable offer. In the end, Minnesota did what they had to do while still getting a sizeable return.