Karl-Anthony Towns Rumors

Knicks Notes: McBride, Brown, Towns, FAs, Anunoby

September 16th, 2025 at 10:00am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks ranked fifth in the NBA last season with a 117.3 offensive rating, but the team’s efficiency dropped over the course of the year, as Stefan Bondy writes for The New York Post. After scoring 119.9 points per 100 possessions prior to the All-Star break, New York ranked 22nd with just 112.3 points per 100 possessions after the break, and the club’s 112.7 offensive rating in the playoffs was the worst of the four conference finalists.

Knicks reserve guard Miles McBride is optimistic that new head coach Mike Brown will help revitalize an offense that slowed down over the season’s final few months.

“Last year, we might’ve gotten a little bit stagnant, and the last couple years,” McBride told Bondy. “And I feel like what [Brown’s] been preaching is just being able to play with pace, and it’s not just the guy with the ball. And everybody is a possibility [to score] and able to take it off the dribble, of course.”

Describing the team as “really hungry” after coming within two wins of an NBA Finals appearance in 2024/25, McBride went into more detail on why his conversations with Brown so far have made him excited about what the Knicks’ offense will look like going forward.

“I’ve talked to [Brown] a lot, and I think the big thing is just going to be a lot of player movement,” McBride said. “He’s giving us the foundation, and we’re just going to work off of it. So I’m really excited to see all our creativity with each other that we’ve been working on these last couple months. Really excited to see where it takes us.”

Here’s more on the Knicks:

Speaking to D.J. Siddiqi of Games Hub a few weeks ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, Jalen Brunson referred to the former Timberwolves big man as a “phenomenal” addition for the Knicks both on and off the court. “The things that he’s been able to do in a short period of time being a Knick has been amazing,” Brunson said. “Having him as a teammate has been really fun. I think that gets overlooked how good of a teammate he is. Obviously, he’s a great player and what he does on the court. But the teammate he is and what he brings to the locker room for us is special. So I’m really happy to have him.”
Veteran free agents Dennis Smith Jr. and Alex Len played well in informal scrimmages on Monday, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link), who confirms that Trey Jemison remains on New York’s radar and says the team is finalizing its decisions on who to invite to training camp. Begley also reported the Knicks’ interest in re-signing Matt Ryan before word broke this morning that the two sides had a deal in place.
How will the Knicks’ coaching change affect OG Anunoby? Fred Katz of The Athletic digs into that question, exploring whether the athletic forward will benefit from Brown’s stated desire to play at a faster pace and whether Anunoby could take on more offensive responsibilities.

New York Notes: Towns, Thibodeau, Brown, Wolf, Highsmith

August 16th, 2025 at 9:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

Stefan Bondy of the New York Post (subscriber link) finds it curious that there hasn’t been more talk about an extension for Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns this summer. Towns has until October 20 to add two more years to his current deal, which runs through 2026/27 with a $61MM player option for the following season.

Bondy states that he hasn’t been able to get any information about possible extension talks. Towns’ agent didn’t respond to a text regarding the subject, and team president Leon Rose almost never communicates with the media.

Bondy expects Towns to play out the remainder of his contract, possibly including the player option, before getting a new deal. His max extension would be $150MM over two years, and even though Towns is a perennial All-Star, Bondy doesn’t view him as being worth $75MM per year as teams maneuver to stay below the second apron.

Bondy also brings up several questions the Knicks might want to have answered before they consider committing that kind of money to Towns. Can he stay healthier than he did in Minnesota, will he and Jalen Brunson develop better chemistry in the offense, can he improve his pick-and-roll defense, and does he fit better as a center or a power forward?

There’s more from New York City:

Knicks fans are expecting a trip to the NBA Finals this season and would consider anything less to be a disappointment, a survey taken by James L. Edwards of The Athletic reveals. More than 3,000 fans responded, and most are cautiously optimistic that New York will be the No. 1 seed in the East, but they’re split on the firing of Tom Thibodeau. A plurality of 37.7% agree with the move, while 29.6% oppose it and 32.7% are indifferent. Nearly 70% are withholding judgment on new head coach Mike Brown.
Danny Wolf, the last of the Nets‘ five first-round picks this year, brings a lot of versatility to the roster, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required). He’s a big man who can orchestrate the offense and shoot from the outside, and he has the potential to see time at power forward and center. “He’s just so unique. I don’t want to compare him to certain players,” Summer League coach Steve Hetzel said. “He’s very unique because he can handle, he can play pick-and-roll … at Michigan, he was a primary ball-handler in pick-and-rolls. So he has a ton of skill and he can shoot the three.”
The Nets are acquiring Haywood Highsmith from Miami, but he seems to be more of a trade chip than a long-term investment, Bondy observes in another story. Brooklyn is emphasizing the development of its young players, and there might be interest around the league in the 28-year-old Highsmith, who has a $5.6MM expiring contract, once he recovers from knee surgery.

Knicks Notes: Bridges, Towns, Lineup, Carmelo

August 8th, 2025 at 9:07am CST by Luke Adams

In a subscriber-only story, Zach Braziller of The New York Post considers whether the Knicks‘ coaching change will benefit Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns in their second year with the team.

Bridges had an up-and-down first season in New York, while Towns put up big numbers but wasn’t always involved in the offense enough, including in some playoff games. New head coach Mike Brown is expected to bring a faster pace and more ball movement with him to the Knicks, Braziller notes, which could result in better looks for Bridges and Towns.

James L. Edwards III of The Athletic covers similar ground in a mailbag, observing that Brown used some creative offensive sets in Sacramento to get DeMar DeRozan good mid-range looks and could run similar sets for Bridges. Edwards also thinks the Knicks could use Towns as the hub of their offense more frequently and take advantage of his passing.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

Edwards also explores some lineup and rotation questions in his mailbag, speculating that the Knicks will open the season with Towns and Mitchell Robinson starting alongside one another in the frontcourt in order to provide more rim protection on the first unit.
Whether it’s Robinson or Josh Hart in the starting lineup, Edwards projects both players to be regular parts of the rotation along with Towns, Bridges, Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Miles McBride, Jordan Clarkson, and Guerschon Yabusele. Whether Brown opts to go beyond a nine-man rotation to open the season could depend on who the Knicks sign to fill out their roster and whether or not any of the club’s young players stand out during the preseason, Edwards writes.
Former Knicks star Carmelo Anthony has chosen Allen Iverson and Dwyane Wade to be his presenters when he’s formally inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame next month, according to a press release.
In case you missed it, Mike Weinar withdrew from the Knicks’ search for a lead assistant, but Chris Jent of the Hornets remains under consideration. In other Knicks news, we recently passed along the details on Bridges’ four-year extension with the team, including his unique trade kicker.

Fred VanVleet Elected New NBPA President

July 12th, 2025 at 7:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

7:00 pm: According to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link), the other members of the Executive Committee are as follows:

Grant Williams, first vice president.
Mason Plumlee, secretary-treasurer.
Jaylen Brown, vice president.
Jaren Jackson Jr., vice president.
Donovan Mitchell, vice president.
Garrett Temple, vice president.
Karl-Anthony Towns, vice president.
Gabe Vincent, vice president.

6:01 pm: The National Basketball Players Association has elected Rockets guard Fred VanVleet as its new president, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). VanVleet will replace CJ McCollum and will serve a four-year term.

VanVleet, 31, has earned tremendous respect from his peers during his nine-year NBA career. He was one of the veteran players Ime Udoka brought in to help change the culture when he took over as head coach in Houston two years ago.

VanVleet was a beloved figure in Toronto before switching teams and played a vital role in bringing the city its only NBA title in 2019. He recently signed a two-year, $50MM deal to remain in Houston, and Charania notes that he has set several records for being the highest-paid undrafted player in league history (Twitter link).

With the expiration of his four-year term, McCollum will take on an advisory position with union, Charania adds. His time in office included a landmark Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2023 that introduced the two-apron system and ensures labor peace through the 2029/30 season.

Knicks Reportedly Won’t Pursue Kevin Durant Trade

June 11th, 2025 at 5:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks have been viewed as major players in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes, but a league source tells Stefan Bondy of The New York Post that New York won’t be pursuing the Suns star.

A report this morning from ESPN’s Shams Charania identified the Knicks as one of the teams that have expressed interest in acquiring Durant. He also mentioned the Rockets, Spurs, Heat and Timberwolves, but said other clubs have made inquiries as well. According to Charania, the Suns and Durant’s business partner, Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman, are reviewing trade scenarios with the expectation that talks will intensify before the first night of the draft.

If the Knicks have decided not to make an offer, it’s likely due to reluctance to break up a roster that just reached the Eastern Conference Finals. Durant will make $54.7MM next season, which is the last year of his current contract, and he’ll be looking for an extension with his next team.

To match salaries in a Durant trade, New York would either have to part with Karl-Anthony Towns, who is owed $53.1MM next year, or give up multiple rotation players. The Knicks made major changes last summer by trading for Towns and Mikal Bridges and may not be eager to shake up the roster again.

Durant’s age could also be a factor into the Knicks’ decision. He’ll turn 37 in September, and although he’s coming off another productive season — averaging 26.6 PPG while shooting 52.7% from the field and 43% from three-point range — he missed 20 games and his durability might become a greater issue as he gets older.

The Knicks are built around a team of relatively young veterans, with Towns and Josh Hart as the oldest rotation members at age 30, and they may not want to shorten their window as title contenders by giving up major assets to bring in Durant.

The Knicks heavily pursued Durant in free agency in 2019, when he was recovering from a torn Achilles. Bondy states that Durant’s father, Wayne, was pushing him to sign with New York at the time, but he opted for Brooklyn instead.

Trade Rumors: Giannis, Durant, Spurs, Garland

June 10th, 2025 at 11:50am CST by Luke Adams

The trade market for Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to be nonexistent, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on Tuesday during an appearance on Get Up (YouTube link). As Windhorst explained, despite rampant speculation about the possibility of the two-time MVP being traded this offseason, there has still been no indication that either Antetokounmpo or the Bucks are preparing for that scenario.

“Giannis Antetokounmpo has gone overseas to travel with his family. He has made no trade request to the Bucks. He has made no trade hint to the Bucks,” Windhorst said. “The Bucks are proceeding with their offseason as if Giannis is going to be with them, and there’s no significant trade talks right now. The plan is for Giannis Antetokounmpo to be a Buck.

“Now, he can change all that with a simple request, but that request has not happened and it’s not clear it’s going to happen anytime soon.”

Windhorst’s reporting lines up with what we’ve heard recently from Jake Fischer of The Stein Line and Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Both Fischer and Lewis indicated there’s increased skepticism among league sources that Antetokounmpo will end up on the trade block in the coming weeks.

It’s still not a sure thing that Antetokounmpo will open next season in Milwaukee, since trade requests often don’t come this early in the offseason. When Giannis’ current teammate Damian Lillard asked out of Portland in 2023, for example, it happened on July 1.

Still, I wouldn’t necessarily expect Antetokounmpo to wait that long to make a final decision — the further we get into June without a trade request, the better the Bucks have to feel about the odds of it not happening at all this summer.

Here are a few more trade-related notes and rumors from around the NBA:

During that same Get Up appearance (YouTube link), Windhorst confirmed that a Kevin Durant trade is far more likely to happen this offseason than a deal involving Antetokounmpo. He added that the Knicks are among a “handful” of teams expected to talk to the Suns about Durant, but cautioned that salary-matching and tax-apron rules will make it difficult for them to acquire Durant without including Karl-Anthony Towns. Reporting out of Phoenix last week suggested the Suns aren’t enthusiastic about trading for Towns.
Within an in-depth article exploring the Spurs‘ options with the No. 2 overall pick and considering whether it makes sense to add Dylan Harper to a backcourt that already features De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle, Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports cites sources who say San Antonio has explored the idea of packaging its second lottery pick (No. 14) with a player to upgrade its roster.
With Darius Garland trade rumors percolating, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required) evaluates what a deal involving the point guard might look like for the Cavaliers, discussing three separate hypothetical trades in which Cleveland acquires Jalen Suggs and Tristan Da Silva (from Orlando), Jaden McDaniels, Donte DiVincenzo, and Terrence Shannon (from Minnesota), or Trey Murphy, Kelly Olynyk, and Jose Alvarado (from New Orleans). Fedor also briefly discusses Sacramento’s reported interest in Garland, but suggests it’s not easy to find a match with the Kings.

Knicks Notes: Brunson, Towns, Thibodeau, Hart

June 7th, 2025 at 9:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns are the most valuable trade assets the Knicks possess as they try to finish the job of building a championship roster, according to Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News. Winfield ranks the potential value of everything New York has to work with this summer, starting with Brunson and going down to Boston’s top-45 protected second-round pick in 2028. Team president Leon Rose has limited draft capital remaining after last year’s trades for Towns and Mikal Bridges, so most of the coveted assets would be players.

It seems unthinkable that the Knicks would part with Brunson, their captain, especially after he accepted a team-friendly extension that could keep him under contract through the 2028/29 season. They may be more willing to move on from Towns, whose contract becomes more burdensome until he reaches a $61MM player option in 2027/28. Towns’ defensive shortcomings can make it challenging to have him and Brunson on the floor together, which Indiana exploited in the conference finals.

Bridges, New York’s 2032 first-round pick and OG Anunoby round out Winfield’s top five. The Knicks face a looming decision on Bridges, who is entering the final year of his contract and will be eligible for an offseason extension potentially worth $156MM over four years. Anunoby, the second-highest-paid player on the team, is signed for three more seasons and holds a $48.4MM player option for 2028/29.

There’s more on the Knicks:

The team’s next head coach will be walking into an extremely high-pressure situation, as reaching the conference finals wasn’t enough to save Tom Thibodeau‘s job, notes Steve Popper of Newsday. He points out that the Knicks have been mentioned as serious suitors for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant, so the new coach will have to adjust his preferred style if one of those stars is in New York. Popper cautions that the team may have to aim smaller and states that avoiding the second apron figures to be an offseason priority. The Knicks are currently $8MM under that threshold, but can expand that by $3.5MM by declining their team option on P.J. Tucker. They could save another $2MM by also declining their option on Ariel Hukporti, but he may be too valuable at that price to let go.
Thibodeau deserved another season as head coach to hone the Brunson-Towns combination and figure out ways to improve the defense, contends Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Washburn argues that Thibodeau took the fall for management’s mistakes, including giving up five first-round picks for Bridges and parting with two valuable pieces from last year’s team to bring in Towns.
Josh Hart, who played for Jay Wright at Villanova, fully supports Wright’s decision to not pursue the Knicks’ coaching vacancy. “Man Thank You. Stay retired!” Hart tweeted.

Latest On Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal

June 6th, 2025 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

Kelly Iko of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the Suns have made multiple calls to the Rockets about Kevin Durant since the end of the season and have “gradually lowered” their asking price for the star forward during those discussions. However, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter links) strongly disputes those claims, referring to them as “beyond untrue.”

According to Gambadoro, the Suns haven’t spoken to the Rockets since February and had put a potential Durant trade on the back-burner while they hired a new general manager and head coach. Now that those tasks have been crossed off their offseason to-do list, they’ll begin having conversations with potential trade partners about Durant, Gambadoro adds.

During a TV appearance on Thursday (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Shams Charania reiterated – as he reported during the season – that there was some mutual interest between Durant and the Knicks prior to February’s trade deadline. According to Charania, New York made an offer for Durant at that time.

A deal involving Devin Booker‘s former Kentucky teammate Karl-Anthony Towns would probably be the simplest way for the Knicks to acquire Durant, since Towns and KD will have very similar cap figures next season. But Gambadoro said during Thursday’s Burns & Gambo show (Twitter video link) that he has heard the Suns don’t have interest in Towns and would prefer a return centered around OG Anunoby or Mikal Bridges if they were to make a trade with the Knicks.

Charania cited sources this week who said that Durant is expected to draw serious interest from approximately four to six teams this summer.

Charania has previously identified New York, Golden State, Minnesota, Houston, San Antonio, and Miami as clubs who expressed some level of interest prior to the trade deadline, though it’s not clear whether all of those teams would renew their interest during the offseason. During the Burns & Gambo clip linked above, Gambadoro also pointed to the Clippers as a team to watch for Durant.

Of course, Durant won’t be the Suns’ only big-name trade candidate to monitor in the coming weeks. Bradley Beal is also expected to be on the trade block, but will be far more difficult to move due to his salary (nearly $111MM over the next two years) relative to his production, as well as the fact that his contract contains a no-trade clause.

According to Gambadoro (Twitter links), the Suns don’t want to bring back Beal, but he may be prove to be unmovable this summer, as he was prior to the trade deadline. If that’s the case, the club is expected to explore the possibility of a buyout, but there’s no guarantee that the veteran guard would go for that idea.

If Beal can’t be traded or bought out, the Suns would have to keep him and try to rebuild his value, per Gambadoro (Twitter link), who notes that head coaching candidates during Phoenix’s interview process were asked how they’d use the three-time All-Star.

Knicks’ Towns Undergoes Procedures For Playoff Injuries

June 5th, 2025 at 2:00pm CST by Rory Maher

Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns recently underwent unspecified procedures to deal with his bruised left knee and to repair ligament damage in his left finger, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com.

As Shelburne writes, Towns sustained the finger injury in New York’s second-round series against Boston and hurt his knee in the Eastern Conference Finals vs. Indiana.

The 29-year-old big man had his injuries reevaluated after the Knicks were eliminated by the Pacers, according to Shelburne, who hears from sources that Towns opted to have the procedures right away in order to maximize his recovery timeframe ahead of the 2025/26 season.

Towns, who was selected No. 1 overall in the 2015 draft, had a productive first season with the Knicks, having been named to his fifth All-Star team and earning a spot on the All-NBA Third Team for the third time.

Towns is under contract through ’27/28 and will be extension-eligible this offseason, Shelburne notes. His current deal will pay him approximately $110MM in guaranteed money over the next two seasons, with a $61MM player option for the final year.

Knicks Notes: Brunson, Adjustments, Bridges, Offseason Priorities, Contracts

June 2nd, 2025 at 7:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks fell two wins shy of the Finals. Their top player has no doubts they can make up that deficit next season. Jalen Brunson believes the core group will do whatever it takes to get over the hump, Zach Braziller of the New York Post writes.

“The most confident. Overconfident. Seriously,” Brunson said of the team’s future. “There’s not an ounce of any type of doubt that I’m not confident with this group. We have a lot of guys who are on this team, and I feel like you guys always ask, ‘what do you work on whenever you come back?’ and stuff like that,. And from what I’ve seen, no one’s really out there posting themselves about the things that they do. We have a lot of guys that just genuinely want to work hard to be better, and I like that, and I appreciate my teammates and everything they do and everything they believe in.”

Brunson was appreciative of the character his teammates showed.

“I think the way this team progressed this year, for me it was fun,” he said. “There were a lot of people saying we couldn’t do a lot of things. A lot of negativity around what we were trying to accomplish and the way we put blinders on and went to work, that’s something I was proud of with this team. I’m proud of how we stayed the course.”

Here’s more on the Knicks:

What steps should they take to achieve that Finals goal? Chris Herring of ESPN makes three suggestions — going with Mitchell Robinson as a starter on a regular basis with Josh Hart coming off the bench; improving the second unit and going with a deeper bench rotation; and finding ways to better utilize the partnership between Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Given the draft pick haul they received, the Nets are thus far the clear winners in last summer’s Mikal Bridges blockbuster trade, Brian Lewis of the New York Post opines. The early payoff will begin this month when the Nets utilize some of those draft picks but there’s plenty more to come. Meanwhile, Bridges flopped in the Eastern Conference Finals trying to guard Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, according to Lewis, who says the Knicks could still make the deal a win-win if they reach the Finals next year with Bridges — or in the future, if he signs an extension.
Speaking of Bridges, potential extension talks between the two parties this summer are at or near the top of the team’s priority list, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. Bridges could get more money if he waits until free agency next summer but he also looms as a tradable asset if he has an expiring contract. Extending Tom Thibodeau and deciding whether to sign any of their four unrestricted free agents are also on the offseason agenda, Bondy writes.
In a related story, Braziller breaks down the contract status of each player heading into the offseason. New York’s top seven rotation players are under contract through at least next season.