Knicks Officially Acquire Karl-Anthony Towns In Three-Team Trade With Wolves, Hornets
The Karl-Anthony Towns blockbuster involving the Knicks, Timberwolves, and Hornets is now official, according to press releases from each of the three teams involved in the deal.
Word first broke last Friday night that an agreement had been reached, with more details reported on Tuesday. The full terms of the trade are as follows:
- Knicks acquire Towns and the draft rights to James Nnaji.
- Timberwolves acquire Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop, and the Pistons’ 2025 first-round pick (top-13 protected; from Knicks).
- Hornets acquire DaQuan Jeffries (sign-and-trade), Charlie Brown Jr. (sign-and-trade), Duane Washington (sign-and-trade), either the Nuggets’ or Sixers’ 2025 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable; from Timberwolves), the Warriors’ 2026 second-round pick (from Knicks), the Knicks’ 2031 second-round pick, and cash ($7.2MM; from Knicks).
“We are beyond excited to welcome Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks family,” Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose said in a statement. “Karl-Anthony brings a skillset that is unique to the game of basketball. He possesses a blend of playmaking, shooting, rebounding and defending that in combination with his size allows him to compete at a level that is rare in this league. Karl-Anthony has demonstrated throughout his career to be a high caliber player and person on and off the court who will complement the type of team and culture we continue to build in New York.”
Minnesota waived camp invitee Jaedon LeDee in order to accommodate the one-for-three swap, while Charlotte cut guards Marcus Garrett and guard Caleb McConnell to make room on its roster for the three incoming players.
Both the Wolves and Hornets are now at their 21-man preseason limits, while the Knicks have five open spots on their 21-man squad. They’ll reportedly fill one of those spots by re-signing Chuma Okeke.
Our original report on the trade includes more details on the on-court implications of the move for the Knicks and Timberwolves. We also discussed how it will affect New York’s ability to fill out the rest of its regular season roster.
Here are a few more additional notes on the transaction:
- Randle received his full 15% trade bonus as part of the transaction, confirms ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). That bumps the forward’s cap hit for 2024/25 from $28,939,680 to $33,073,920. The cap charge for Randle’s ’25/26 player option ($30,935,520) remains unchanged, since the trade bonus doesn’t affect option years.
- Towns also had a trade kicker in his contract, but it’s voided because he’s already earning his maximum salary, Marks adds (via Twitter).
- The three players the Knicks signed-and-traded to the Hornets will each earn exactly $1 more than their respective minimum salaries, per Marks. That works out to $2,425,404 for Jeffries, $2,237,692 for Brown, and $2,162,607 for Washington. Teams aren’t permitted to aggregate multiple minimum-salary contracts for matching purposes in offseason trades, and since Bates-Diop is on a minimum deal, Jeffries, Brown, and Washington couldn’t be. Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link) has heard that the NBA “isn’t thrilled” about the way in which the Knicks circumvented that rule, but it’s technically legal.
- The Hornets used their $7,983,000 room exception to accommodate those three incoming salaries, becoming the first team to take advantage of the new rule allowing clubs to use their non-taxpayer mid-level exception, room exception, or bi-annual exception to acquire a player via trade. Charlotte now has just $1,157,297 left on that exception.
- The Timberwolves will create a $4,686,880 trade exception in the deal, which they’d be allowed to use this season despite being a second-apron team. Teams operating above either tax apron are prohibited from using trade exceptions that were generated during the previous season, but can use newly created TPEs.
- Because they sent approximately $7.2MM to the Hornets in the deal, were responsible for paying Randle’s $4.13MM trade bonus, and will reportedly pay Partizan Belgrade an estimated $850K for Washington’s buyout, the Knicks are on the hook for more than $12MM in cash, separate from player salaries, as a result of the deal.
Hornets To Receive Three Second-Rounders, Three Players In Towns Blockbuster
The Hornets are receiving three second-round picks along with DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr. and Duane Washington Jr. as the third team in the Knicks–Timberwolves blockbuster trade, Shams Charania, Jon Krawczynski and Fred Katz of The Athletic report (via Twitter). A pair of those second-rounders are coming from the Knicks, while the Timberwolves will provide the other one.
The Knicks, of course, are acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns in the trade, while Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and a protected Pistons first-round pick controlled by New York are headed to Minnesota.
The Knicks will also receive the rights to 2023 draft pick James Nnaji from Charlotte, Katz tweets.
Jeffries has appeared in a total of 64 NBA games for four different teams. He saw action in 17 games off the bench for New York last season.
Brown has appeared in NBA games for five organizations since entering the league in 2019/20. He played eight games for the Knicks last season.
Washington has played a total of 79 games for Indiana and Phoenix. Washington, who didn’t appear in an NBA game last season, signed a two-year contract with Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade in July.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks provides more details on Charlotte’s haul (Twitter link). Minnesota is shipping a 2025 second-rounder (the least favorable of Denver’s or Philadelphia’s picks). The Knicks are giving up a 2026 pick that Golden State owed them and their own 2031 second-rounder.
The trio of veteran players are involved in sign-and-trades and Charlotte will also collect a total of $7.2MM in cash from the Knicks, Marks notes. That’s the maximum amount of cash a team can trade in 2024/25, so New York won’t be permitted to sent out cash in any subsequent deals.
The cash Charlotte receives will offset the salaries of the three players, who will earn a combined $6.8MM, Marks adds (Twitter link). The Hornets are using their room exception to make those acquisitions, making them the first team to take advantage of new rules allowing teams to trade for players using the non-taxpayer mid-level, room, or bi-annual exception.
Partizan and Washington will agree to a buyout freeing him up for the sign-and-trade deal, but Charlotte plans to waive him, so he could re-sign with the Belgrade-based club, Ian Begley of SNY TV tweets.
Nnaji, the 31st pick of the 2023 draft, is a draft-and-stash prospect who struggled to get rotation minutes with Spanish powerhouse Barcelona in ’23/24. He’s playing for Spain’s Girona on loan from Barcelona this season.
As we outlined on Saturday when we discussed the cap implications of the trade for the Knicks, they’ll have just 12 players under contract once the deal is official and won’t have enough room under their hard cap to carry two more players on veteran minimum deals.
In all likelihood, they’ll carry a 13th man on a minimum-salary contract (possibly Landry Shamet) and will promote either Kevin McCullar or Ariel Hukporti to the standard roster. They’d also have the option of signing a draft-and-stash prospect as their 14th man, though most viable candidates for an NBA roster spot are under contract with teams elsewhere.
Knicks Closing In On Trade For Karl-Anthony Towns
The Timberwolves and Knicks are close to completing a blockbuster deal that will send Karl-Anthony Towns to New York.
The Knicks’ package will center around Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski. Krawczynski adds (via Twitter) that Keita Bates-Diop is headed from New York to Minnesota too.
Minnesota is also receiving the first-round pick that the Pistons owe the Knicks, according to Steve Popper of Newsday (Twitter link). That first-rounder is for 2025, but is top-13 protected. If it lands in its protected range, it would roll over to 2026 (top-11 protected) and 2027 (top-nine protected) before turning into a ’27 second-round pick.
The Knicks are sending DaQuan Jeffries and draft compensation to the Hornets to help facilitate the deal, Charania adds (Twitter link). Charlotte will also acquire cash from New York, per Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer.
Jeffries’ new contract is expected to start around $3MM, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv. It will have to cover three seasons, but only the first must be guaranteed.
The parties are still working through the details, as the Knicks will need to more salary to make the trade legal, but talks intensified over the last 24 hours, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. It’s a stunning turn of events right before the start of training camp. New York was already involved in a major deal this offseason, trading for the Nets’ Mikal Bridges.
The addition of Towns would give the Knicks more flexibility with their lineup but would come at a large long-term cost in terms of payroll. Towns’ monster four-year, $220MM super-max extension kicks in this season. He’s due to make $49,205,800 this season and his salary escalates over the life of the contract.
Randle has a $28,939,680 salary this season and holds a $30.9MM player option next offseason. DiVincenzo is in the second year of a four-year, $46.87MM contract, including a $11,445,000 salary this season.
Neither the Knicks nor the Timberwolves can take back more money than they send out, since both teams are operating above the $178.1MM first tax apron, cap expert Yossi Gozlan points out (Twitter link). The Wolves are currently over the second apron as well.
Randle also has a trade bonus worth $4.1MM that will be triggered as a result of the deal, according to Gozlan (Twitter link). Trade kickers can be waived partially or entirely to help accommodate a move, though there’s been no indication yet that the forward will do so.
Long-term salary cap implications would certainly factor into Minnesota’s decision, if the deal goes through. Moving off of Towns’ pricey contract will help the Wolves keep the rest of their core together and eventually extend key frontcourt pieces like Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid during a tumultuous time for team ownership. Towns has also suffered a number of injuries during his career, which could also be a factor in the Timberwolves’ thinking.
Towns will give the Knicks a dynamic frontcourt scoring option to complement All-Star guard Jalen Brunson. He could also fill the center spot, which is in flux with Mitchell Robinson sidelined by injury and Isaiah Hartenstein signing as a free agent with Oklahoma City, and slide over to the power forward position at times when Robinson returns. A league source tells Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link) that the club views Towns as an ideal complement to its core of Brunson, Bridges, and OG Anunoby.
As Charania and Krawczynski write, Towns grew up as a Knicks fan near New York City and had long been on the team’s radar. The four-time All-Star is also a client at CAA, the former agency of current Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose. The Knicks contacted the Wolves about Towns repeatedly over the last two years, sources tell The Athletic, and “stepped up” their pursuit in recent days, tweets Chris Hine of The Star Tribune.
Still, Towns – who had been in Minnesota since being drafted first overall by the team in 2015, had been fiercely loyal to the Wolves over the year, sticking with the team through some challenging years and repeatedly professing a desire to remain with the organization for his entire career. He was “stunned” by the news of the trade, a source tells The Athletic.
It’s also worth noting that Towns and Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau had a somewhat strained relationship during their overlap in Minnesota from 2016-19, though Krawczynski says Towns has moved past that and holds “no ill feelings” toward Thibodeau.
Randle will replace Towns as the Timberwolves’ power forward, though Reid – a better long-distance shooter than Randle and a good fit next to Gobert – also figures to play a key role in filling the hole created by Towns’ departure.
Sources tell Ramona Shelburne of ESPN (Twitter link) that the Knicks and Randle – who spent the offseason recovering from shoulder surgery – hadn’t made any progress in contract extension negotiations, which made the club more inclined to move him. The Pistons, Hawks and Heat are among the other teams the Knicks talked to regarding potential Randle trades, Begley tweets.
DiVincenzo will provide Minnesota with a solid three-point shooting wing. He’s coming off a career year in which he averaged 15.1 points per game.
As Jake Fischer tweets, the Timberwolves targeted DiVincenzo when he was a free agent in 2023 and he reciprocated their interest at the time before choosing the Knicks. DiVincenzo’s inclusion in the deal was a sticking point for the Wolves, who became “very intrigued” once the Knicks were willing to put him on the table, says Begley (Twitter link).
According to Krawczynski, the Wolves believe the added flexibility the trade provides will put them in a better position to contend in the long-term and maximize Anthony Edwards‘ window.
Luke Adams contributed to this story.
Knicks Didn’t Extend Qualifying Offer To Precious Achiuwa
The Knicks opted not to extend a $6.3MM qualifying offer to Precious Achiuwa, league sources tell Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). The decision means the 24-year-old big man will be unrestricted when he enters free agency on Sunday.
New York hasn’t ruled out re-signing Achiuwa, Katz adds, but the team didn’t want to risk the possibility of having him quickly accept the QO, which would have affected its hard cap situation as it tries to work out the details of the trade to acquire Mikal Bridges from Brooklyn.
The Knicks acquired Achiuwa in late December as part of the OG Anunoby deal. He wound up playing a significant role amid long-term injuries to Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and others. Achiuwa appeared in 49 games after the trade, making 18 starts and averaging 7.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in 24.2 minutes per night.
The Knicks have picked up their $2MM team option on Jericho Sims for next season, a source tells Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link). The backup center still only has a $651K partial guarantee on his $2.09MM salary, with trigger dates in July and August. Sims, who has spent the past three seasons with New York, will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The team has declined DaQuan Jeffries‘ $2.5MM option, Katz tweets. Jeffries, who saw action in 17 games, will become an unrestricted free agent on Sunday.
The Knicks extended a qualifying offer to two-way forward Jacob Toppin, making him a restricted free agent, Katz tweets. However, two-way players Duane Washington Jr. and Charlie Brown Jr. did not receive QOs (Twitter links).
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Jeffries, Diakite, Walker, Dinwiddie
The Celtics’ bench has turned into a strength during their current hot streak, Jay King of The Athletic writes.
Over the last nine games, Payton Pritchard has averaged 13.9 points and 5.8 assists per game while shooting 47.0% from the field. Meanwhile, Sam Hauser has made 21 three-pointers over his past three games entering Monday’s action. Al Horford, Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman and Oshae Brissett have also delivered impactful performances.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- DaQuan Jeffries’ contract with the Knicks, which he signed on Monday, runs through the end of this season with a team option for 2024/25, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets. Mamadi Diakite’s contract with the Knicks, also signed on Monday, runs through next season too, but the 2024/25 salary is non-guaranteed rather than a team option, Katz adds (Twitter link).
- Lonnie Walker‘s minutes have dropped since Kevin Ollie was named the Nets’ interim coach but he’s trying to keep a positive attitude, according to NetsDaily.com. “I don’t think it negatively affects me. You might have your ups and downs, your days where you might not feel as much,” Walker said. “But for the most part, I got a great family around me that really supports me and I understand that there’s light at the end of the tunnel.” Walker will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
- Spencer Dinwiddie was given very little leeway by former Nets coach Jacque Vaughn before he was dealt and later joined the Lakers, according to Shams Charania. Speaking on the Run It Back program (video link), Charania said Dinwiddie “was essentially told in Brooklyn: No pick and rolls, no isolations.”
Knicks Re-Sign DaQuan Jeffries, Mamadi Diakite
3:21pm: Both deals run through the end of the season, confirms Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).
2:59pm: The Knicks have re-signed swingman DaQuan Jeffries and forward Mamadi Diakite, according to a pair of press releases from the club (Twitter links).
Jeffries and Diakite had been on 10-day contracts with New York, which expired over the weekend. Today’s announcements don’t provide any details on their new agreements, but Jeffries wasn’t eligible to sign another 10-day pact with the Knicks, and there’s no indication in the release that Diakite’s new deal is another 10-day.
Unless we hear otherwise, we’re assuming both players received rest-of-season commitments, filling New York’s two open roster spots and giving the team a full 15-man squad.
Jeffries spent much of the past two seasons under contract with the Knicks on various two-way, 10-day, and non-guaranteed deals. He didn’t play at all at the NBA level last season, but has seen a little action in 13 games in 2023/24, registering 11 points and five rebounds in 34 total minutes.
Diakite, meanwhile, appeared in three NBA games earlier this season while on a two-way deal with San Antonio and has also suited up for the Bucks, Thunder, and Cavaliers since making his NBA debut in 2021. He was waived by the Spurs on March 2, so he wouldn’t be eligible to play for the Knicks in the postseason if he signed a rest-of-season deal.
It’s possible one or both contracts include a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season, giving New York some offseason roster flexibility, but that has yet to be confirmed one way or the other.
Assuming they both signed for the minimum, Jeffries will earn $261,293 for the rest of this season, while Diakite would make $252,525.
Knicks Notes: Sims, Achiuwa, Anunoby, McBride, Hartenstein, Roster Openings
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau made a change to his frontcourt rotation on Saturday, using Jericho Sims as his primary backup center ahead of Precious Achiuwa, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Thibodeau expressed a need for more “physicality” after his team got pushed around in Thursday’s loss at Denver.
“Whoever’s got it going, that’s where we’re going,” Thibodeau said. “Some nights it’s not your night, it’s someone else’s night and then you put the team first. Everyone sacrifices. And that’s really what we’ve done all year.”
Sims didn’t score, but he boosted the defense and grabbed seven rebounds in his 18 minutes of action. Achiuwa played just eight minutes, his fewest since January 17. Bondy notes that Achiuwa was used as the starting power forward the last time OG Anunoby was injured. Over the past three games, Thibodeau has moved Josh Hart to that position and inserted Miles McBride into the starting lineup. Thibodeau told reporters that he still has “a lot of confidence” in Achiuwa and indicated that the reduction in playing time may be temporary.
“He’s done a great job for us,” Thibodeau said. “I love the fact that he can play two positions. I think he can guard multiple positions. It allows you to do a lot of switching. So it was more the matchup of, OK, who are we looking at in the Golden State game? We’re looking at (Stephen) Curry (necessitating McBride to be in the lineup to chase him around). And then with Brooklyn, you’re looking at Cam Thomas, who has been rolling.”
There’s more from New York:
- Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle both worked out before the game, but Anunoby wasn’t seen on the court or in the locker room after reporters were granted access, Bondy adds. There’s no word on whether the soreness in his surgically repaired elbow has eased enough to allow him to practice. “It’s hard to say,” Thibodeau said. “I haven’t seen him. He’s doing better so just let it calm down and go from there.”
- McBride’s 48-minute marathon on Saturday marked the sixth time he has topped the 40-minute mark since signing an extension in late December, per Bridget Reilly of The New York Post. McBride said he tried not to look at the Knicks’ bench during Saturday’s game so he wouldn’t give any indication that he wanted to come out. “Honestly, it’s mental,” he said. “Just telling myself to keep pushing through, give everything I’ve got in order to get the win.”
- Isaiah Hartenstein credits Thibodeau and the Knicks’ medical staff for helping him ease back into the lineup while dealing with Achilles soreness, per Ian Begley of SNY (video link).
- New York has two roster openings after 10-day contracts expired on Saturday for Mamadi Diakite and DaQuan Jeffries, notes Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter links). Diakite is eligible for another 10-day deal, but Jeffries would have to be signed for the rest of the season if the Knicks want to keep him.
Knicks Sign Diakite To 10-Day Deal, Officially Re-Sign Jeffries
The Knicks have signed forward Mamadi Diakite to a 10-day contract, the team’s PR department tweets. New York also officially signed DaQuan Jeffries to a second 10-day deal, the club announced in a separate tweet.
Diakite became a free agent after the Spurs waived him on March 2. San Antonio had signed Diakite to a two-way deal on New Year’s Day.
Diakite is back in the Knicks’ organization after participating in their training camp last fall and playing for their G League team in Westchester earlier this season. He averaged 13.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 30.3 minutes while playing six games for the G League club.
Diakite, 27, went undrafted in 2020 out of Virginia after winning the national championship with the Cavaliers in 2018/19. This is his fourth NBA season — he has played a total of 52 games with Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Cleveland and San Antonio. He holds career averages of 3.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per contest.
The Knicks have a roster opening to accommodate Diakite.
New York’s intention to re-sign Jeffries was reported on Wednesday. This is the third separate time Jeffries has been on the Knicks’ roster in 2023/24. He was initially on a standard non-guaranteed contract, but was waived as part of a trade back in late December. Jeffries signed his first 10-day deal with New York this season on February 22.
Knicks To Sign DaQuan Jeffries To Second 10-Day Deal
The Knicks are signing guard/forward DaQuan Jeffries to a second 10-day contract, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports (via Twitter).
Jeffries signed his first 10-day deal with New York this season on February 22 and was eligible for a second 10-day contract at the beginning of March. Instead, he’ll be returning a couple weeks later, according to Scotto.
This is actually the third separate time Jeffries has been on the Knicks’ roster in 2023/24. He was initially on a standard non-guaranteed contract, but was waived as part of a trade back in late December.
According to Fred Katz of The Athletic, Jeffries will officially sign his new deal on Thursday, when New York faces Portland (Twitter link).
Once his second 10-day deal expires, Jeffries will be ineligible to sign a third. To retain him at that point, the Knicks would have to sign him for the rest of the season.
Jeffries, 26, went undrafted out of Tulsa in 2019. He has played in 60 NBA games for the Kings, Rockets, Grizzlies and Knicks over the past five seasons, including 13 brief cameos (34 total minutes) with New York in ’23/24.
Jeffries didn’t play in any games in 2022/23 with New York, but he was under contract the whole campaign — initially on a two-way deal, and then a pair of 10-day contracts, before finally signing a multiyear deal.
While he hasn’t played much for the NBA club, Jeffries has been a standout for the Knicks’ G League affiliate in Westchester the past two seasons, averaging 22.8 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.8 APG and 1.1 BPG on .484/.385/.758 shooting in 13 regular season games in ’23/24.
As our tracker shows, New York only has 13 players on standard contracts at the moment, and was required to fill the 14th spot within two weeks of Jeffries’ last 10-day deal. The Knicks are currently 38-27, the No. 4 seed in the East, though only 2.5 games separate them from the No. 8 Heat.
Knicks Sign DaQuan Jeffries To 10-Day Deal
9:15am: Jeffries’ 10-day deal with the Knicks is now official, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.
8:16am: DaQuan Jeffries, who was waived by the Knicks in late December, will return to the team on a 10-day contract, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
The 26-year-old shooting guard was let go when New York needed to open a roster spot to complete the OG Anunoby trade with Toronto. He saw limited action in 10 games this season before being released.
New York is Jeffries’ fourth team since he entered the NBA in 2019. He also spent time with Sacramento, Houston and Memphis, holding career averages of 3.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in 57 career games while shooting 43.7% from the field and 28.6% from three-point range.
If Jeffries signs today, he can appear in tonight’s game at Philadelphia and then four more before the contract expires. He’ll be eligible to sign a second 10-day deal next weekend.