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More than a year later, Karl-Anthony Towns is still in shock over the trade that sent him to New York.
Knicks fans spent this season swinging between MVP chants and trade talk for the same guy. Funny how a championship run changes the story so fast.
Karl-Anthony Towns silenced every doubt in the building during the Finals run, and now New York faces a different kind of pressure. The kind that comes with a price tag.
GettyBrian Windhorst Reveals the Sacrifice Knicks Need From Karl-Anthony Towns
Towns is locked in for next season at $57.1 million, with a $61 million player option sitting on the table for 2027-28. He’s not going anywhere right away.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, on Get Up, called this the defining question of the summer. “In all honesty, that’s the biggest question of the Knicks offseason. So Karl Towns is under contract for next season. He’ll be back. He’ll be the starting center. He’ll be there on ring night.”
The Knicks could keep their core together for the next 3-5 years IF Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart are willing to take a pay cut, per @WindhorstESPN
KAT is eligible for a 4-year, $272M extension.
“If Karl Towns is willing to take a little bit of a haircut, you know, $7-10
The bigger issue sits one year further out. “But the question is, can Karl Towns stick with this team long-term? The way he was used in this postseason, it’s hard to not see him as with this team for the majority of the rest of his career.”
Towns can decline his option and sign an extension worth close to $272 million over four years, a deal that would pay him close to $70 million a season. After what he just did against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, almost nobody around the league would argue he hasn’t earned it.
Windhorst doesn’t dispute that either. “But he is in position to get a contract extension that’s going to approach $70 million a year on average. And he has earned it. He has shown that he is an elite center in this league, a championship player.”
The math is where it gets messy. “But the Knicks are not going to be able to afford that type of player. Don’t re-sign him. But I don’t know if they’d be able to keep the team together.”
GettyKnicks Dynasty Hopes May Depend on One KAT Decision
That’s where the haircut talk comes in. Jalen Brunson already gave the Knicks a gift nobody expected when he left money on the table to keep the core intact.
Windhorst pointed to that history first. “So Jalen Brunson took less. I don’t expect anybody in the history of the NBA to do what Jalen Brunson did. But Mikael Bridges took a little less than he could have last year.”
From there, he laid out the path forward for Towns and Josh Hart, who is also extension eligible this summer. “If Karl Towns is willing to take a little bit of a haircut, $7, $10 million over the course of multiple seasons. You know, and Josh Hart is also extension eligible this summer.”
He believes that’s the difference between a short window and a real run. “If both of them are willing to take a little bit of a haircut, you can see this core staying together for three, four, five years.”
The flip side is just as clear. Full max money for Towns makes it tough for New York to keep this roster whole past next season, and his trade value has probably never been higher than it is right now.
So this offseason won’t change who starts at center next season. But it will decide how long this Knicks core gets to run it back. Does Towns chase the full $272 million, or does he trade a few million for a real shot at staying together?
Jayesh Pagar Jayesh Pagar is a writer at Heavy Sports, covering the New York Knicks and other NBA teams. He brings four years of experience across digital sports media, including NBA, WNBA, college basketball, and college football. He covered as the Knicks beat writer for ONSI and has written for Sporting News, and ClutchPoints. More about Jayesh Pagar
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