Entering the 2024-2025 NBA media day, The Denver Nuggets were tied for the third-best odds in the Western Conference to win the NBA championship. While they entered with the same +1100 odds as the Dallas Mavericks, both the Oklahoma City Thunder (+700) and Minnesota Timberwolves (+1000) had better odds. This may change after a huge Knicks-Wolves trade.
In a blockbuster trade that seemingly came out of the blue, the Knicks and Timberwolves agreed in principle to a deal that will ship 4x All-Star and 2x All-NBA center Karl-Anthony Towns to the Big Apple in exchange for 3x All-Star and 2x All-NBA power forward, Julius Randle. The team formerly built perfectly to stifle the Nuggets is no longer.
The Wolves will also acquire veteran SG Donte DiVincenzo, who is coming off of a career year where he averaged 15.5 PPG on 40.1% shooting from beyond the arc, in addition to a heavily protected Pistons 1st-round pick. KAT will now be reunited with Tom Thibodeau, who coached him for three years in Minnesota from 2016 to 2019. How Towns feels about this trade is still unclear:
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— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) September 28, 2024
While there are debates about who won this trade and what this means for the two teams involved as they push for title contention, one thing is certain: this trade is a huge win for the Nuggets. Jokic and company have just witnessed their worst matchup in the entire NBA switch out one of their core players for something that is unknown and they should be ecstatic.
Towns was crucial in the Wolves series win over the Nuggets last season... Now he moves east
Denver and Minnesota have faced off in the playoffs in back-to-back years and the division rivals played an intense 7-game series last year where the Nuggets collapsed, Anthony Edwards waved goodbye, and the Wolves advanced. One of the biggest reasons for this was the impact that KAT had both in the offense, as well as the defensive scheme for Minnesota.
Towns was the primary on-ball Jokic defender, which allowed Rudy Gobert to sag off of Aaron Gordon and help protect the rim against the 3x MVP. Measuring in at 7’0” and 248 pounds, KAT was large enough to not get bodied by the Joker and allowed Gobert to thrive in the roaming defender role. Additionally Towns was the Wolves 2nd leading scorer at 18.6 PPG and shot 39.4% from three.
Only time will tell if Julius Randle can provide a similar defensive or offensive impact as Towns, but he is 4 inches shorter than KAT and is a far inferior floor spacer than him. The Wolves will now likely need to move Gobert back onto Jokic now, which has historically not worked well for the Frenchman.
This could ultimately be a win-win for the Knicks and Wolves long-term, but in the short-term it appears that Anthony Edwards’ team just made their matchup against the 2023 NBA champs a little less favorable.