Knicks ‘monitoring’ trade situation with Timberwolves star

The New York Knicks badly want to add a star to their roster, and if the fact that it's connected to virtually any high-profile name that pops up in trade rumors isn’t proof enough, many of them making sense only adds to that belief. 

But the latest on what may lie ahead for the Knicks would be an excellent addition, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Post reported the team is “monitoring” the trade situation involving Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns.

This isn’t overly surprising, but the fit of Towns with the young core of guards and forwards the Knicks currently have would almost certainly put them in the mix to make some noise in the playoffs. As Bondy explains, part of that connection may have to do with Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, who was with the Timberwolves and Towns from 2016-19 as the head coach and president of basketball operations.

Thibodeau had extremely high praise for Towns ahead of the team’s preseason matchup on Saturday, as Bondy detailed.

“Watching the progress he’s made throughout his career, he’s as gifted as they come,” Thibodeau said.

“When you look at an offensive player, particularly a big, the skill set that he has, I think we all saw, to win the 3-point contest and stuff like that, there’s nothing he can’t do offensively. He has continued to get better I think. He had some injuries to deal with. I watched him play in FIBA [the World Cup, for the Dominican Republic], he played really well there. He’s really, really gifted.”

Towns has spent his entire eight-year NBA career with the Timberwolves, averaging 23 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.3 blocks per game. He’s shot 52.6 percent from the field in his career while knocking down 39.5 percent of his attempts from three-point range.

Obviously, it’s unknown as to whether the Timberwolves would consider making a move to deal Towns anytime soon (or at all.) But if they do, it seems the Knicks may be at the forefront of that pursuit, based not only on this report but the fact that he’d be as close to an ideal fit for this franchise as one could imagine.