Cities for Randle. You can hardly think of a better trade for the worst fears of each team’s fanbase.

Have the T’wolves just cut their best team in two decades now that Glen Taylor is back in the ownership saddle? Did the Knicks unnecessarily chase an expensive shiny object who happens to be a former Leon Rose client?

Or… did both teams actually do the right thing here?

Let’s see.

First the details of the trade. The Minnesota Timberwolves are sending Karl-Anthony Towns to New York, where we can look forward to a new crop of announcers calling him “Anthony-Towns” for half a season before discovering his name. In return, the Knicks send Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a protected 2025 first-round pick from Detroit to Minnesota.

To complement the deal, the Knicks will send $8.8 million in payroll to Charlotte and pay the Hornets with draft picks to take on it. Cap nerds will enjoy the fact that Charlotte appears to be the first team to use the mid-level exception for non-taxpayers as a trade exception, a new wrinkle to the 2023 CBA.

At the time of writing, the exact players and compensation between New York and Charlotte were not entirely clear, but New York would sign DeQuan Jeffries and Charlie Brown Jr. can contract and trade to bridge the $8.8 million gap needed to make this a legal trade. The Knicks have a stockpile of multiple future second-round picks to drive trade.

There may also be a small piece of the Wolves coming to Charlotte to comply with NBA trade rules; With the Wolves’ roster one over the 15-player cap after the trade and Minnesota still owed $25 million in taxes, it’s possible a player could head to Charlotte.

At first glance, the rule of thumb in NBA trades is that the team that gets the best player ultimately wins. Towns is a year younger than Randle, and most observers would say he’s better, too. Additionally, the Knicks had a clear need at center, and Towns is better suited to fill that role than Randle.

GO DEEPER

Trade qualities: Who won the Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle trade?

Then again, it’s a salary cap league, and the money here matters for more than just the owners’ pockets. Towns will make $49.2 million this season and $53 million next season, with a $61 million player option in 2027-28. Randle, meanwhile, has a $30.9 million player option in 2025-26; By late March, the Wolves could nuke that final year and give him an extension of up to four years and $181 million, though they’re unlikely to go that high. Whatever his next contract gets him in 2025-26, it won’t be $53 million; basically DiVincenzo and Randle combined they are unlikely to yield that much.

The upshot of that particular fact is that the Wolves will likely land well below the second platform in 2025-2026 and their 2033 draft pick won’t be frozen. If they were to rework Rudy Gobert’s deal (he has a $46.6 million player option in 2025-26; he and the Wolves could sign an extension that smooths out the money), they could even realize Glen Taylor’s fantasy that they do not owe any tax. not at all.

It’s more likely that they’re still over the tax but have enough wiggle room to re-sign Naz Reid or use their no-taxpayer mid-level exception for a replacement. That probably wouldn’t be the case if Towns stuck to his deal.

The other aspect of this deal is that the gap between Towns and Randle may not be as wide as you think. BORD$ values ​​Towns at $41 million and Randle at $37 million for the upcoming season. While some of that latter rating is due to Randle being a bit of an innings eater, it’s also because he has more ball game than Towns and is less likely to throw a hook pass to the seventh row. As long as Randle isn’t damaged by a shoulder injury in January, this might not be a major downgrade for Minnesota.

Randle is not Towns’ equal as a shooter or rebounder, and the Wolves are already falling short. DiVincenzo enters. Last season he came in third place (283 goals, 40.1 percent accuracy) and has one of the best contracts in the league. A player that BORD$ values ​​at $29 million is only making $11.4 million this year and is under contract through 2027.

That first-round pick is no small feat either, although it is a much less important consideration than these three excellent players starring in the trade. It’s a top-13 protected pick from Detroit that turns into top-11 protection in 2026 and top-nine protection in 2027 before turning into a second. Especially in 2027, it has a decent chance of becoming a mid-first-round pick, but it might not ultimately qualify as a pick until the 2027 mid-30s.

The important aspect of his choice is future trade flexibility for the Wolves, who no longer had any assets of their own to use in any transaction. But a pick like this could land a mid-season deal in or, more likely, the 2025 offseason.

So it’s hard for me to be critical of this deal for Minnesota. Randle is arguably a better fit next to Gobert and has a much better contract than Towns, and they got a great sixth man and a tradeable pick in the process. My projection system had Minnesota getting three wins as a result of this deal, and the Wolves also gained more future cap flexibility and a draft pick.

And for the Knicks? I worry this makes their roster too top-heavy and erodes wing depth. New York’s remaining group is now leaning a little too heavily on the Thibodeau fantasy of using just six players for all 82 games all night and hoping they don’t collapse in the playoffs all at once. (Yes, I just made up a word with five consecutive vowels. Heat checks aren’t just for players, y’all).

GO DEEPER

Katz: What’s next for the Knicks after the Karl-Anthony Towns trade?

If we subtract both DiVincenzo and Randle, Josh Hart is promoted to starter, and the perimeter depth is… Miles McBride? There’s not much else here, although veterans like Landry Shamet and Marcus Morris Sr., who signed training camp deals, now have a decent shot at making the roster. New York looks stronger up front, especially with Mitchell Robinson coming back, and they could potentially trade Robinson for a wing.

Here’s the scary part for New York: This is a win-now trade, and the Knicks’ projection in my system didn’t improve after I put in the changes. In fact, it got significantly worse, with a drop of 2.5 wins. You could argue that the Knicks’ playoff version would have a different grade if it relies more on the top six players, but that would depend on Thibodeau not killing them all before April. Moreover, New York has little exchange capital left to trade and it is only a few cents of the second apron cap. It will likely remain with this roster until next offseason.

Yes, New York will likely replenish the roster to make the endgame of the trade look a little better than it does now. This is one of the league’s most creative front offices and has mined the NBA scrap heap quite effectively in the past.

Nevertheless, this could be a trade that turns the “get the best player” maxim on its head. The issue of how to ultimately offload Towns’ massive contract was one that has loomed over the Wolves’ future since the day he signed his extension. Somehow, Minnesota’s front office managed to handle it artfully with two pieces that actually fit and made the cap situation much more tenable.

As for New York? Yes, the Knicks have solved their starting center problem… but in doing so, they’ve created enough other problems that the cure may be worse than the disease.

(Top photo of Julius Randle and Karl-Anthony Towns: Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)