In adding the four-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, the New York Knicks were taking a risk. The roster, as is, was perseverance personified.
But Julius Randle was entering the final season of his contract, and though he was eligible for a new one, he and the front office were so far apart in extension talks that divorce was on the brink. New York also said goodbye to Donte DiVincenzo, a man who played at Madison Square Garden for only one year, yet seemed like he was born to spar in that building.
For the first time in memory, a Tom Thibodeau team does not deploy a conventional rim-protector for most or all of a game. Last season, New York’s shot-blocking duo was a pair of centers, Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein. Towns is different. Of course, no one, including Thibodeau (who supported the trade enthusiastically), expected him to transform into something he is not.
These Knicks, sitting at 16-10, third in the Eastern Conference, do not operate the same way as the Knicks who fell one win short of the conference finals last season, when contributor after contributor went down with injury during a two-series playoff run. Those Knicks, DiVincenzo chief among them, would punch you in the mouth with their identity. These ones will whiz by you and nail shots from anywhere.
They are third in points per possession, in the top tier of scariest offensive fleets, largely because of him. There is a strong argument he’s been New York’s best player this season. His pick-and-roll chemistry with Jalen Brunson, who finished fifth in MVP voting last season, is flourishing. The two already look like they’ve played far more than 26 games together.
Towns’ presence has changed them, and really, what more could the Knicks have expected from him?
Read more of my deep dive into the Towns-Randle-DiVincenzo trade below.
GO FURTHER
As Karl-Anthony Towns returns to Minnesota, Knicks have gotten all they could have expected
