Timberwolves finalize deal to send Karl-Anthony Towns to Nex Fuentes

In exchange for KAT, the Wolves would have acquired Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick from the Knicks via Detroit.

the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves They are finalizing the swap that will take place Carl Anthony Cities I landed in New York and Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo They will go to Minnesota, league sources confirmed to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

The sources said that talks intensified between the teams over the past 24 hours and the final touches on the deal were put in place as of Friday evening.

Minnesota will also receive a top-13 protected pick in the 2025 first round, which was acquired from New York via the Detroit Pistons in a previous trade.

A third team, the Charlotte Hornets, is also part of the trade to accommodate the additional salary, sources said.

This blockbuster trade comes just days before training camps start across the NBA and sees the Knicks add the four-time All-Star in the cities to pair with the all-star guard Jalen Brunson.

League sources confirmed to ESPN earlier this week that the Knicks are already short at center, with Mitchell Robinson set to miss the start of the regular season after ankle surgery.

Towns spent all nine of his NBA seasons with Minnesota, where he combined for… Anthony Edwards To help the Timberwolves get to Western Conference Finals Last season. He will now reunite with current Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who was with him in Minnesota (2016-19).

During that span, Towns played in all 204 games for the Timberwolves, averaging 23.0 points and 12.3 rebounds. He was one of three players in the NBA in that era with at least 4,000 points and 2,000 rebounds, along with Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis.

New York had its own success in the postseason last season, reaching the semifinals before losing to the Indiana Pacers in seven games. But Randle wasn’t part of the picture in the playoffs. He dislocated his shoulder on January 27, and after two months of rehab, elected to undergo season-ending right shoulder surgery in April.

That ended an All-Star season for the 29-year-old forward, who was averaging 24 points on 47% shooting, 9.2 rebounds and 5 assists per game at the time of the injury.

Randle said last June that he hoped to be ready for the start of this season.

Contractually, Towns is in the first year of a four-year, $220 million supermax extension he signed in 2022. Randle has $28.9 million and $30.9 million remaining on his contract, which includes a player option for next season.

DiVincenzo, a 3-point shooter who averaged 17.8 points in the playoffs last season, has three seasons remaining on his contract.

The Athletic newspaper was the first to report the talks between the two teams.