The Karl-Anthony Towns trade shows a lack of joined-up thinking

September is supposed to be the month where nothing happens in the NBA. Almost every free agent has been signed, almost every trade has been made, and rosters are set, waiting for training camp to begin. Normally.

But not this year. Last night, out of absolutely nowhere, it was reported that the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks agreed upon a deal to send Karl-Anthony Towns to the Big Apple in exchange for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a future protected first-round pick.

There are whispers before their trades. Normally. But not this time. The news came to the surprise of everyone in and around the NBA, not least of which was Towns himself, whose camp was reported to be “stunned”. Towns, it must be noted, never requested a trade from Minnesota – not now, and not ever. No one outside of the very few in on the deal knew this was coming, or that anything like it was brewing, from Minnesota’s end at least. And when looking at the deal from their end, it is easy to see why this was the assumption.

In HoopsHype’s recent look at the trade assets of every NBA franchise, it was seen how the Wolves had little in their stable to facilitate deals. They had foresworn almost all of their future draft picks – mostly in the July 2022 trade with the Utah Jazz that saw them land Rudy Gobert – in the pursuit of assembling their own version of the Big Three, the three-headed foundation now considered so ubiquitous in NBA roster construction.

Additionally, as seen in our recent look at every team’s luxury tax situation, the Wolves were sporting the largest payroll in their history. With more than $208 million committed in 2024-25 alone, the team was set to have the second-highest payroll in the league, and with their large contracts extending beyond this season, the payroll was going to stay big and quickly become subject to the luxury tax at repeater rates. In tandem, between the lack of draft capital, the payroll expenditure, and the age of the star they had traded it all for, they were thought to be “all in”.

More importantly, it looked like it was working, albeit to relative standards. Fuelled by a rejuvenated Gobert – who won his fourth NBA Defensive Player of the Year award in 2023-24, his second year with the team – the Wolves won 56 regular season games, their best return in 20 years, and advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs for only the second time in franchise history. Gobert still had his fastball, Towns was entering his prime, and the third wheel – Anthony Edwards – only turned 23 over the summer. The journey was imperfect, but it was starting to work.

However, with the future mortgaged, they have gone away from the present. And it is hard to see why.

For a moment, forget everything you know about all the players involved in the deal. Instead, look at the term in purely asset terms. First, look at the financial ramifications.

It is true that the Wolves will be shifting out the substantial $220,441,984 still owed to Karl-Anthony Towns through 2028 through this deal. However, Randle and DiVincenzo combine for $95,845,200 coming back in. The only way to realize the potential salary savings is to let them walk; otherwise, they will need big new contracts, making the financial situation much closer to a push than it appears on first glance.

Secondly, in terms of the assets, the only piece of draft capital coming back is a Top 13 protected 2025 first-round pick from the Detroit Pistons. The protection diminishes until 2027, but given that the Pistons are at the foot at the NBA and not going anywhere any time soon, that pick may never convey. If it does not, Detroit’s 2027 second-round pick will be sent instead. And that makes barely an imprint on the net negative situation that Minnesota has in its draft capital.

And thirdly, look at the ages of the players involved. 28 years old going out, 29 and 27 coming back in. This is not a timeline-changer. This trade was about the present day. This trade was about this season, This trade was about the “now”.

Reductive though it may seem, the value in looking first at the trade in this detached way is simply because Towns is, indisputably, the best player in it. Arguments can be made that Randle might prove to be a better fit alongside Gobert, and that DiVincenzo – who hit the third-most three-pointers in the NBA last season behind only Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic, and who had ascended to Star Role Player status – is not a piece to be overlooked.

Arguments can also be made that the loss of Towns will in part be offset by an expanded role for Naz Reid, who has developed into an excellent modern offensive big. This is true enough; Reid is good.

But as things stand, after going all in to create a Big Three, the Wolves have stepped back to a Big Two And A Bit, without meaningfully replenishing the assets cupboard and keeping the oldest one of the three. If the trade from Minnesota’s perspective is indeed one of the “now”, then it bears a mention that that “now” will rely upon the health of a currently-injured (and often-injured) Randle, a talented player who has never had optimum deployment of said talents, except for that one anomalous year when he shot like Kevin Durant somehow. This is quite a huge question mark to trade a perennial All-Star seven-footer for.

What is indisputably true is that the Knicks are a better team than they were last week. They have been aggressive for a while, and that aggression has brought them a front four of Towns, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby. That lineup really needed a center, particularly in the wake of the departure of Isaiah Hartenstein and the continuing injury problems of Mitchell Robinson. And they did not get just any center; they got an elite one, entering his prime years, for the cost of a flawed star they were going to play out of position anyway, a pick that may never convey, and a solid role player who nonetheless was likely to be jockeying for court time with Josh Hart. We might not have known that the Knicks were going to do this deal, but now that they have, we certainly know why they did.

Can we say the same about the Timberwolves?