Timberwolves-Knicks trade is finally official, and Karl-Anthony Towns says his goodbyes

Chris Hine, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Oct 2, 2024

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MINNEAPOLIS — Just after 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Timberwolves, Knicks and Hornets made official a multi-faceted trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York and netted the Wolves Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and a protected 2025 first-round pick via Detroit.

For the past five days, the respective social media teams had time to prepare their content, and on Wednesday, they unleashed their creations. Towns posted a thank-you video to Wolves fans and the Wolves released a few things in appreciation of Towns.

Among those thanking Towns on behalf of the organization was coach Chris Finch, who could finally discuss the particulars of the trade now that it was official.

“The most important thing in my relationship with [Towns] and our time together was just how gracious he was, welcoming and accommodating, open and coachable,” Finch said. “Right off the bat, [I] think he kind of set the tone for me and for our environment. For a guy who has faced so much change in his career at that point in time, he didn’t have to be that way.”

When Finch took the job in February 2021, Towns paved the way for the new coach to establish the kind of culture he wanted, even after the team fired someone Towns was close with in Ryan Saunders. Finch has said previously he will always be appreciative of Towns never holding that against him and keeping an open mind for buying into what he was bringing.

Finch came to the Wolves after spending over a decade as an NBA assistant, with one of those stops being in New Orleans, where he coached Randle for the 2018-19 season. Finch said he “loved” to coach Randle, who he said figured to slide into the starting power forward slot Towns vacated. Randle had a professional approach and a positive attitude in New Orleans, Finch said, and he should fit into how the Wolves play offense.

“One thing I know is he’s an incredible playmaker who really can pass,” Finch said. “He can make every pass on the floor. He can handle the ball in pick-and-rolls. … He’s played the ‘four‘ alongside kind of a traditional ‘five’ for the last several years. So it’s not like we’re asking him to share different space or play alongside a completely different roster construction. I don’t see a ton of issue in that.”

The new Wolves will be introduced in Minnesota at a news conference Thursday morning at Target Center.

One thing Finch wanted to make clear was that the move was not a “money deal,” that this was not a case of ownership trying to save money in a trade of Towns’ maximum contract. The Wolves are saving some on the hefty luxury tax bill they will pay this season, but they are still above the so-called “second apron” of the collective bargaining agreement and are well into the luxury tax.

The team also made the move in part to maintain financial flexibility to spend money around Anthony Edwards for the long term.

“Glen [Taylor] and our ownership was and is committed to paying large amounts of tax for this team to be highly competitive. That hasn’t changed,” Finch said. “This deal in totality checks a lot of boxes. We think it’s a great basketball trade. We think it makes us deeper in a lot of ways and in ways that we needed. It does give us flexibility and mechanisms to keep remaking the team going forward. That, more than anything, that whole package there was the reasons for the deal.”

In DiVincenzo, the Wolves will be replacing the 3-point volume Towns contributed to the lineup. Finch hopes the Wolves will take more 3s this season, and DiVincenzo can provide that coming off the bench. He shot 40% on 8.7 attempts per game last season.

“Donte is a great runner, spot-up shooter in transition,” Finch said. “We desperately need that. We should be able to benefit a little bit more there.”

The two-for-one swap means the Wolves will be a deeper team. One of their strengths last season was having a defined top eight of their rotation. They were down to seven with the departure of Kyle Anderson to Golden State, but now they’re back to where they were. That will allow a longer runway for some of their younger players to compete for minutes, including rookie guards Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr.

Maintaining depth can be an issue when a team is in the second apron, but through their draft-day trade for Dillingham and this deal, the Wolves have found some, but will that make them good enough come playoff time?

“We feel we could end up being one of the deeper teams in the league,” Finch said.