Karl-Anthony Towns

Knicks Reportedly Won’t Pursue Kevin Durant Trade

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

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:

Knicks Notes: Brunson, Towns, Thibodeau, Hart

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

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

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

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.

Knicks Notes: Offseason, Towns, Rose

The Knicks have played their final game of the season after losing Game 6 to the Pacers on Saturday. Now come the questions. But according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the team should be wary of overreacting to the loss, just as the Pacers were when they lost last year’s Eastern Conference Finals to the Celtics.

Marks points to an interview with owner James Dolan earlier this season on Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart‘s Roommates podcast.

You really have to do the fundamentals, the basics. You’ve got to build a team. You’ve got to build an organization. There is no waving a wand over a team and all of a sudden it makes it a great team,” Dolan said at the time.

The question is whether that will hold true for a team with some real areas of concern on its roster and very limited avenues to address them. The Knicks’ entire bench outside of Mitchell Robinson and Miles McBride are free agents, with team options on P.J. Tucker and rookie center Ariel Hukporti. They will have access to the $5.7MM taxpayer mid-level exception, but using it will trigger a hard cap at the second apron. The rest of the much-needed depth would have to be filled out using minimum-salary contracts, the draft (New York holds only the No. 50 overall pick), and limited trade tools.

Marks points to Robinson’s $13MM expiring salary as a potential trade chip if the Knicks decide to make a bigger move, but they also only have one movable first-rounder (the Wizards’ 2026 top-eight protected pick), along with a few potential pick swaps, to include in a deal.

Finally, the Knicks will have Mikal Bridges‘ extension to decide on. A new deal for Bridges would kick in for 2026, so it doesn’t impact this summer’s salary situation. Karl-Anthony Towns is also extension-eligible, though with three years left on his current contract, it’s a less pressing concern.

We have more from the Knicks:

  • Given the reluctance of Knicks leadership to speak openly or address the media, parsing the next steps forward is something akin to reading the tea leaves, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. He points to president of basketball operations Leon Rose‘s patience in building this roster, though the Towns and Bridges trades seemed to signal a willingness to be more aggressive. Popper also points to the same Dolan interview referenced by Marks, in which the reclusive owner said, “[Rose] has done a good job of lining up the contracts. So this isn’t our only season. So we’re going to play a bunch of seasons together. You take a look at teams like Boston that have played together. They get to draw off something that they built off that period of time. And for this team, that’s really the challenge today, going into the playoffs. It’s to build that inside of the team, something that we can draw on.”
  • While reports about the team’s frustrations with Towns’ defense began circulating moments after the Knicks’ season ended, Brunson’s praised Towns prior to Game 6 for how he was able to fight through multiple playoff injuries to stay active and involved in the series. “I have the utmost respect for him and the way he’s been able to play throughout this entire season and playoffs,” Brunson said, per Jared Schwartz of the New York Post. Despite a lingering knee injury, Towns finished the series with averages of 24.8 points and 12.2 rebounds while shooting 36.7% from three on five attempts per game.
  • While it could be a challenging offseason for the Knicks, Rose has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to how to keep taking the right steps forward as an organization, writes the New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro. Vaccaro says that while Rose’s track record spearheading the Knicks isn’t impeccable — after all, whose is? — it has come pretty close, as has his ability to pivot in the rare moments he does make mistakes, such as the summer of 2021 when he built the offseason around signing Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker. Vaccaro suggests the club would benefit from acquiring a starting-caliber player who could shift energizer bunny Hart back to the role he was meant to play, as the team’s sixth man. However, he cautions that any such move would need to be for a player who can defend at a high level, given the limitations to the Brunson and Towns defensive tandem. Rose has earned that benefit of the doubt, Vaccaro writes, but his test starts now.

Knicks Notes: Hart, Tucker, Towns, Bridges, Thibodeau

The Knicks just completed their most successful season in over two decades, but that doesn’t guarantee the core of the team will stay together, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. After winning 51 games and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years, the season ended in disappointment Saturday night with a 17-point loss at Indiana in Game 6.

New York was favored heading into the series and appeared to be good position to reach its first NBA Finals since 1999 after dispatching the Celtics in the second round and seeing the top-seeded Cavaliers lose to Indiana. However, the Knicks let a big lead slip away in the opener against the Pacers and weren’t able to recover from a 2-0 series deficit.

Reflecting on the season, Josh Hart told reporters that changes often follow when teams fall short of their goals.

“You’re always going to hear me say, ‘Run it back,’” Hart said. “I think you heard me say the same thing last year with the guys we had. I’d like to do it. I feel like this team is good enough to make the next step. But it’s a business. And when you don’t get to where you feel like you could’ve or should’ve, changes are made.”

With Hart, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Miles McBride all under contract for next season, the Knicks have the option to attempt another run at the Finals with the same group intact. But they were in a similar position a year ago and opted for two major offseason trades that brought in Bridges and Towns.

“This is my eighth year. This is my fourth organization. I’ve had six or seven coaches,” Hart said. “It’s tough, we’re going to have to see. Don’t think you can ever be too comfortable. I’ll open [the X app] one day and I’m somewhere else. That’s what’s disappointing the most, knowing there’s a good chance this team might not be back in totality.”

There’s more on the Knicks:

  • The path to the conference finals wasn’t smooth, as players held several team meetings to help them refocus after losses, league sources tell James L. Edwards and Fred Katz of The Athletic. They note that the team had to deal with disputes on the bench, criticism that coach Tom Thibodeau was leaning too heavily on his starters, and player comments regarding “sacrifice,” “egos” and “agendas.” A players-only meeting following the Game 5 loss at Boston was called by P.J. Tucker, whom the authors say was signed as a free agent to help bring order to the team. The front office believed there was a need for better locker room leadership, so the 40-year-old Tucker, who only appeared in three regular season games, was added in April instead of someone who could provide more help on the court.
  • Teammates and coaches were frustrated throughout the season by Towns’ poor defensive habits, Edwards and Katz add. Sources tell them that Towns would often fail to execute the correct coverage without explaining why, leading some players to believe he “didn’t grasp the importance of the matter.”
  • Bridges will become eligible for a four-year, $156MM extension this summer, which will be the next step in seeing if management plans a long-term commitment to the current roster. Edwards and Katz report that Bridges’ fit wasn’t as smooth as expected, as he “shied away from physicality,” missed too many jump shots and didn’t provide the consistent defensive presence that he displayed earlier in his career. He also talked to the press in March about the starters playing too many minutes, which the authors state is a taboo subject to discuss publicly on Thibodeau teams.
  • Thibodeau’s job appears to be safe, as he has strong support from team president Leon Rose and Brunson, according to Edwards and Katz, although they point out that owner James Dolan has the final decision. Brunson bristled at speculation about his coach’s future after Saturday’s game, relays Jared Schwartz of The New York Post, responding, “Is that a real question right now? You just asked me if I believe he’s the right guy. Yes. Come on.”

Knicks Notes: Injury Report, Hart, Turnovers, Game 6

No Knicks are listed on the team’s injury report this morning ahead of Saturday’s pivotal Game 6 in Indiana, tweets James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. That’s certainly a good sign for the Knicks, as one of their best players was considered a game-time decision on Thursday.

Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was initially questionable to suit up for Game 5 due to a left knee issue, but he wound up playing 36 minutes and recording 24 points and 13 rebounds in New York’s victory.

Here are a few more notes on the Knicks:

  • Wing Josh Hart had a bounce-back performance on Thursday after being disappointed with his effort in Game 4, writes Barbara Barker of Newsday (subscriber link). Hart fouled out in Game 4 and only dished out one assist while committing five turnovers. “I was really embarrassed about what I was doing, how I looked and the lack of intensity, lack of passion and lack of competitiveness,” Hart said of how he felt after watching the Game 4 loss that gave the Pacers a 3-1 lead. “I was embarrassed, honestly. Not even the turnovers. But giving up back cuts, not communicating. I’m the guy who’s supposed to play with a high competitive nature, a high motor. Those were things I wasn’t doing. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror, let alone look at these guys.” The Knicks will need Hart to continue playing like he did in Game 5 in order to stave off elimination again tonight, Barker adds.
  • Although Game 5 was the Knicks’ first decisive victory of the Eastern Conference Finals, they still committed 15 turnovers, which has been an ongoing issue in the series, per Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Eliminating some of those miscues will be important in Game 6. “It’s not just [Towns, who had four turnovers],” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “The big thing is keeping it simple. The first open man, hit him. Oftentimes, the intent is good, but we’re trying to thread the needle and we can’t do that.”
  • Steve Popper of Newsday (subscription required) lists three keys for the Knicks ahead of Game 6, with the first — and most important — being finding a way to slow down Tyrese Haliburton again. After recording 32 points (on 11-of-23 shooting), 15 assists and 12 rebounds in Game 4, New York limited Haliburton to eight points (on 2-of-7 shooting), six assists and two rebounds in the Game 5 victory.

Knicks Notes: Towns, Shamet, Brunson, Game 5

Karl-Anthony Towns was listed as a game-time decision due to a left knee contusion heading into the Knicks‘ Game 5 homestand against the Pacers, but that didn’t stop him from putting his best foot forward as the Knicks staved off elimination with a 111-94 victory.

Shout out to our medical staff. They gave me a chance to go out there and compete tonight,” Towns said, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. “I’m glad I was able to. We put a lot of hours trying to get myself ready and I got a chance and God was good and I was able to go out there and play.”

Coming into the night, Towns was constantly flexing his knee in the hope that the pain would dissipate, according to SI’s Chris Mannix.

While co-star Jalen Brunson keyed the Knicks’ scoring efforts in the first quarter, Towns took over in the second, finishing the first half with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and ending the game with 24 points and 13 rebounds while playing a game-high 35.5 minutes.

With the season on the line, the Knicks knew that getting the most out of Towns’ offensive skill set was crucial to live to fight another day.

In this series I’ve had a lot of success getting downhill, getting to the rim,” Towns said. “I can shoot the three ball but [tonight] I really wanted to get downhill and impose my will early.”

While the team knows the odds are against fighting back from a 3-1 deficit, Towns remains optimistic, thanks in large part to the mindset of the group of players assembled by president Leon Rose.

One through 15, everyone’s doing an amazing job of wanting to win and being there for each other. This team’s special,” Towns said.

We have more from the Knicks:

  • Landry Shamet had played just 31 minutes in the 2025 playoffs prior to the Eastern Conference Finals, but has logged 36 minutes over the last three games. Despite a modest Game 5 stat line of five points, one rebound, and one steal, his contributions were invaluable, writes The New York Post’s Jared Schwartz. While generally known as a shooting specialist, the 28-year-old wing’s most important contributions were on defense, where he helped contain Pacers’ reserve T.J. McConnell and contributed to a solid team defensive effort alongside fellow seldom-played reserves Delon Wright and Precious Achiuwa. “I love New York. I love these fans. I see how they ride the wave with us, the highs, the lows. So it’s important to me. I just wanna give everything I’ve got to them,” Shamet said.
  • Brunson was the leader New York needed in Game 5, writes Zach Braziller of the New York Post. The Knicks’ captain always spearheads the team’s offensive attack, but following a disappointing Game 4 that saw the Clutch Player of the Year score just two points in the final period, Brunson was focused on a bigger picture approach to leadership. “[I wanted to] set a tone, for sure. It wasn’t through putting the ball in the basket. That happened, but just trying to make sure we were all on the same page and ready to go,” he said. For one game, at least, the efforts paid off, as the Knicks came out with a renewed focus defensively and an offensive game plan that showed more intentionality in how they attacked.
  • Speaking of intentionality and focus, in those two regards, the Knicks sent a clear message in Game 5, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. New York won in all the categories it needed to in order to steal a game and put pressure back on Indiana, including taking more shots, rebounding more, turning it over less, and dominating in the paint. The purpose and attention to detail was most evident on the defensive end, Edwards writes, with crisp rotations, big-time defensive play-making from OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson, and contributions throughout the lineup. “It started at the point of attack, with Mikal (Bridges), just picking up and making things hard,” Miles McBride said after the game. “Everybody talked and communicated a lot more. I just felt like we had an edge to us tonight.”