Late into the 2024 offseason, a bombshell of a trade went down between 2 of the better teams in the league. The New York Knicks would be sending Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a 2025 first-round pick (Joan Beringer was selected with that pick) to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns.
It stunned both fanbases and the players involved as training camp was just about to begin when the deal occurred. None of the players were heavily mentioned in trade rumors. There were reasons both teams made the deal, though, and in hindsight, both teams still may have given it the green light knowing what they know today.
Bill Simmons believes neither team would want a re-do
On the most recent episode of his podcast, Bill Simmons talked with Kirk Goldsberry and discussed their current NBA power rankings. During the episode, the Randle/Towns deal was brought up, and Simmons described it perfectly.
"A year plus later, I feel like both teams would still do it," Simmons said. "Where it’s like, they would with no hesitation still say yes. Usually you have a trade, and like a year later it’s like eh."
The first year after the deal, both Minnesota and New York found their way into the conference championship. Towns was an All-NBA third-team member while Randle easily had the best postseason of his career. DiVincenzo wasn’t stellar in the playoffs, but he hit his 3-pointers just under a 40 percent clip during the regular season.
While Towns is still producing near nightly double-doubles this year, he isn’t having as much success within Mike Brown’s offense as he did last season for the Knicks. The consistency hasn't necessarily been there either, like it was last season.
Randle got off to a hot start, cooled down a bit, but is playing well on offense again (other than his accuracy from beyond the arc). Randle also seemingly has a handful of defensive lapses per game. DiVincenzo has entered the starting lineup this season after being a key reserve last year. Beringer has yet to receive meaningful minutes for the Wolves.
Julius Randle stares down the New York Knicks bench after he stole the ball from Karl Anthony Towns for a dunk pic.twitter.com/leh4mBq4fG
— Jeri Tsai (@JeriTsaiNets) December 24, 2025
Will anyone involved in trade help their long-starved fanbases reach the pinnacle?
Both teams had their reasons to make the deal at the time. The Knicks saw Randle as someone who couldn’t come through come playoff time (plus missed the 2024 playoffs with a shoulder injury), and he had his moments with the team where he struggled to keep his emotions in check. They probably didn’t want to include DiVincenzo in the deal, but needed to for the trade to happen.
Towns signed a four-year, $220 million extension with Minnesota that was set to begin in the 2024-25 season (player option in 2027-28). Having that deal on board would have hamstrung the Timberwolves’ ability to improve the roster.
Would both teams still make the trade? Knicks’ fans might say no, as many are beginning to turn on Towns (many of those fans also weren’t huge supporters of Randle either, though). Both teams have matching 24-13 records this season.
A winner of the trade might not be proclaimed until either team can reach (and perhaps win) the NBA finals. The Knicks haven’t won it all since 1973, and the Timberwolves have yet to make the NBA finals in their franchise history.