Grading the Karl-Anthony Towns TRADE

[kylelanger]

As much as losing KAT hurts my heart now, this trade isn’t about now, mostly.

A massive part of this trade is cap flexibility during Ant’s prime, being able to preserve guys like Naz and Naw, and find some other good pieces to fit around them. We got the most out of KAT that we could. Ant is the guy, KAT was great but it just wasn’t the right piece at the right time.

[charlesfriscia]

The Knicks couldn't come to a contract agreement with Randle and Divicenzo did not wanna be demoted to a bench player...Those 2 things and the Knicks getting desperate for a big led to the immediate trade.

[oliverqueen]

They’re gonna move randle in a salary dump later this year this deal was to shed kats contract and pickup donte

[NosideSkibidi]

Please tell me where you bought that sweet nba schedule LED box thingy

[peytondibble]

Randle actually creates a ton of space, he was 97% percentile for spacing. Teams respect the jumper, but mainly don’t want to give him a head of steam going downhill so they have to guard him on the perimeter.

[peytondibble]

Wolves create roster building flexibility with this deal going forward. Add two rotation players with a ton of upside, extensions for Naz & Gobert on the horizon, off of a star on a superstar contract for the future, and officially this begins Ant’s team going forward. Tim Connolly decided that this was their best chance to win now and going forward.

[peytondibble]

KAT’s offense at the 5 with space is where he excels, without a doubt. One of the best pump and blow by bigs in the league. Going to be space all day with the Knicks roster

[esnoob]

for a long term wolves won the trade they got away for paying him a lot of money and they got pick and compensation and randle before injury was pretty solid both ends and a compliment to rudy lack defense in the outside of the paint who can randle can fill. For the knicks they are in a deadline and bet to win now situation bcs they need to pay kat a lot if you want him to stay and the only thing that hinder them last season was injuries maybe coach tibbs still not learning from the drose bulls era

[BballLuke]

This trade is such a W for the Knicks. No KAT is not a good defender. And yes he is expensive. But he is a MASSIVE improvement on offence from Randle and addresses a massive hole in the knicks offence in terms of 3pa. If KAT just be Jokic level, passable defence at the centre, with OG and Mikal on the wings this team will be amazing. Considering Randle was expiring and would be looking for a BIG payday too, this is such a good move. A+ Knicks, it hurts losing Donte but he was definitely a luxury now you have Mikal

[peytondibble]

KAT took 44 pick and pop threes last year, made 26 of them. It’s just super low volume compared to what it should be.

[damyouboy]

I think Minnesota won this trade. They got off a very expensive KAT contract and Naz read was more valuable to the team last year. On top of that they received compensation.

[peytondibble]

Wolves felt the need to give up a haul for Rudy because of the Memphis series they lost with KAT at the five. Defensively he struggles more at the 5, and isn’t the rebounding/rim protector you’d want.

[style.exe.]

the spacing in the minny lineup will definitely be tested cus idk if it'll look good but randles playmaking is definitely interesting with that starting lineup, i think thats an underrated part of his game, i wonder if mitch rob wasnt hurt would this trade even have happened, for the knicks they def get the best player in the trade, definitely alot riskier tho cus if it doesnt work out i feel like ur just kinda stuck whereas with randle you can pivot out of it alot easier cus it doesnt last as long, idk tho feels like if either team wins it all then it probably wont matter but def pros and cons to both sides

[ahmedelbasty]

This is a win for knicks
This moves the wolves from best 2 teams in west to 3 or even no 4

[ahmedelbasty]

Kate was the second best team scorer in the last playoffs for wolves, while randle was injured

[ZachHaugen]

I agree with the grades overall, but I think analysis on Timberwolves side is missing some stuff. If Randle moves on it's not trading KAT for Divincenzo straight up as you said, that opens up cap flexibility which was likely the entire point of the trade. Randle allowed them cap flexibility after this year that the KAT contract was going to put them in a bind on. They will be able to sign Naz and still have extra money to add another piece whereas with KAT they couldn't bring back Naz or add anyone.

[WheresWaldo]

As a wolves fan, that is also a libra able to look at each and every aspect and both sides of the coin in an unbiased way, the wolves won this by a descent amount.

So if someone said it was an equal trade or neutral. That would be 5 out of 10.

My rank is:

Knicks 4.5/10
Wolves 6.5/10

This coming from someone who does not only dislikes Kat, but also dislikes Randle.

[FatMan-xz]

This move was all about flexibility going forward for Minnesota while remaining a damn good team now.

I feel like it's a causal take to just simply say it's not going to work, it's not that risky tbh... Had they kept KAT they couldn't afford to pay Naz Reid nor have the financial flex to be able to pick up anyone via FA.


Randle has played with Robinson for years and was a net positive with him, it's not going to be all that different with Gobert.

Plus, they have TONS of lineup flexibility with their bench.

[TopNic]

Minnesota won because of the salary. They wanted divincenzo. They can always trade randle at the deadline

[chaseparker]

Twolves won long term, Knicks won short term