With the Minnesota Timberwolves suffering another season at the bottom of the standings, talks about a trade involving Karl-Anthony Towns have only heated up.
In some of the most recent rumblings, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News revealed one team that is already open to the idea of bringing him on in a potential trade: Tom Thibodeau (his former coach) and the New York Knicks.
“I don’t know if Minnesota would ever make Karl-Anthony Towns available,” Bondy said. “But as bad as things ended for Thibodeau in Minnesota, I’ve heard that he’d be open to Karl-Anthony Towns again because Thibodeau just wants to win and he thinks Karl-Anthony Towns will help him to that end. And so I know that Karl-Anthony Towns is somebody that’s actually been reported before that the Knicks are monitoring as well.”
With the Knicks firmly in the playoff picture out East, they’ve become eager to add talent and position themselves towards title contention for the first time in years.
While trading for Towns would come at a great cost (Barrett, Robinson, picks, and maybe more), it might be a step they need to take if they want to move further up the NBA’s hierarchy.
Towns, a 2x All-Star, would be the new face of the franchise. Alongside Julius Randle, the team could become an attractive destination in free agency, and likely pull in enough talent to make them a serious threat in the NBA.
At this point, it might be nothing more than a pipe-dream for Knicks fans. There is no indication, after all, that Towns will be made available anytime soon. But if the moment does come, the Knickerbockers will be ready to jump.
