Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks, small tricks and big dollars • Basket USA

That’s it! Almost a week after the news of transfer Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks, in exchange Julius Randle etc Don’t DiVincenzothe exchange was officially confirmed by the NBA.

In summary:

– New York getting Karl-Anthony Towns and NBA rights James Nnaji
– Minnesota getting Julius Randle, Don’t DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and the “first round” of the 2025 Pistons draft (Top 13 defense)
– Charlotte getting DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr, Duane Washingtonthree “second round” draft picks and $7.2 million from the Knicks

Mikal Bridges move, introduction?

If formalizing the exchange took so long, it’s that the “trade” itself is complex. Tim Connelly, the president of the Wolves, admitted that the heads of the various franchises are still figuring out the problems that the collective agreement is new applied during exchanges of this scale.

However, on the Knicks side, it seems that we already have a good understanding of the new rules and its unclear areas. As Keith Smith explained very well, on SpotracNew York has therefore moved well, understandably since the beginning of the summer to be able to make this exchange. In fact, when Mikal Bridges arrived at the beginning of July, the franchise took care to produce a total salary higher than what he received, especially including Shake Milton , signed and then immediately exchanged.

The goal of the move? Avoid the “hard base” of “first apron”, that is to say, maintain flexibility beyond the first penalty limit set by the new collective agreement.

Strategy was also repeated during the trade around Karl-Anthony Towns because, in order to get the All-Star inside back, the Knicks had to add a total salary higher than the was about to arrive. So is “sign-and-trade” DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr. and Duane Washington which allows us to reach 49.9 million dollars in output, compared to 49.2 million dollars in input with the salary of “KAT”…

For an extra dollar…

So New York came down between the restrictions of the “first apron”, especially by buying the contract of Duane Washington from Partizan and including the Hornets in the exchange. But also by passing a rule that prohibits teams from stacking the minimum wage to balance salaries. For that, New York offered just one dollar more than the minimum to DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr. and Duane Washington. Of course, their salaries are not that low so they are not subject to this rule!

Furthermore, by analyzing the arrivals of Mikal Bridges and then Karl-Anthony Towns, we can assume that the former was done with the latter in mind because it was necessary wait 60 days to be able to use the Keita Bates-Diop contract in a short time. exchange, and the “trade” for “KAT” had to happen before the start of the season, since it was not possible to “sign and trade” with free agents as soon as the campaign started.

Obviously on the Wolves All-Star track for a while, the Knicks moved perfectly, in their three and a half month window, to overcome every obstacle that the NBA put in, until the avoid this type of situation…

The fact remains that the arrival of Karl-Anthony Towns in the “Big Apple” greatly increases the bill of James Dolan. With a payment of (185 million) which increases by 9.4 million dollars, the “luxury tax” rises by 23.8 million dollars. This must be added to the benefit given to Julius Randle during the trade, of 4.1 million dollars, the 7.2 million dollars sent to the Hornets so that they cut the players they received, as well as the 850,000 dollars sent to Partizan to release Duane Washington from his contract. All in all, so this is an additional 45 million dollars that the Knicks agreed to pay to confirm this move.