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Under coach Mike Brown, defensive coordinator Brendan O’Connor and this new staff, the Knicks began the season with a system that emphasized forcing the ball into the middle — into the length they have in Karl-Anthony Towns, Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby. That type of system is rare and a departure from what most of them have done throughout their careers, including last year under Tom Thibodeau. There were frequent miscommunications, and their defense was constantly getting broken down — forcing it to collapse and leaving shooters open on the perimeter for kickout threes, often the result of missed rotations.
Marc Stein: Also will be interesting how the NBA rules on Norman Powell after he played for Jamaica last summer. If they adhere to the players' FIBA status, both Powell and Karl-Anthony Towns would be World selections, creating a USA opening. But we do NOT know yet how the league will rule.
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Per league sources, the Knicks will be one of several teams that have and will continue to inquire heavily about Antetokounmpo. The Bucks are looking for a premier young player(s) and multiple, good draft picks in exchange for one of the three best players in the NBA. The Knicks have neither of those, and to get close to what the Bucks are asking for, New York would need to trade two or three players in its starting lineup, most likely OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and/or Karl-Anthony Towns. The latter two, per multiple league sources, aren’t believed to have the same value today as when the Knicks traded for them, so that could be a hurdle in itself. It’s unclear if the Knicks and Dolan are willing to give up their hopes of making the finals this season in order to acquire Antetokounmpo sooner rather than later. New York hasn’t been as good as many projected coming into the season, but it’s still a good team and the Eastern Conference’s only dominant squad is the young Pistons.
If you saw Towns after Wednesday night’s game — or really, if you’ve seen him at all this season — you know that hearing his name in trade talks has come at a cost. Feelings are hurt. Egos are bruised. And maybe trust is gone. This is the business they’ve chosen, to paraphrase “The Godfather Part II.” They’re well compensated and with little control for most of their careers. That doesn’t change the fact that feelings get hurt.
Towns sat in front of his locker after almost all of his teammates had cleared out of the locker room. When he was asked about the trade rumors, he insisted he wasn’t giving it a thought. You read the quotes and tell me if you believe it. “I feel like I’ve been in trade rumors a lot for a lot of times, for [a] year . . . ,” Towns said. “That don’t matter to me. I’m not looking at social media or none of that stuff. I focus on the job at hand, which is trying to get wins every single night. As long as I do that, I do my job, I go home happy and I feel accomplished. I’m not worried about what anybody got to say or people write or anything like that.”
Paul Pierce on Karl-Anthony Towns trade rumors: This is not a a a situation you dive in the middle of the season where you're trying to contend for a championship. These type of moves are done in the offseason. I think you judge him off his playoffs. Like, yeah, they've been up and down during regular season. Everybody feels like they should be on top of the East, but then like we saw Indiana run from whatever seed to the finals and everything quieted around. Everything could get quiet if the Knicks go to the finals with KAT. This is what I hate with GMs and what organizations do. You get discouraged during the regular season and you make a dumb move. No dude, we are judged on what we do in the playoffs and then we build from what we got. We're right there.
Karl-Anthony Towns, the subject of persistent trade rumors ahead of next week’s deadline, said he’s unconcerned with the chatter. “I feel like I’ve been in trade rumors a lot for a lot of times, for a year damn near. That don’t matter to me,” said Towns, who was traded from the Timberwolves to the Knicks before last season. “I don’t look at social media or none of that stuff. I focus on the job on hand which is trying to get wins every single night. As long as I do that, I do my job, I go home happy and I feel accomplished. I’m not worried about what anybody got to say or people write or anything like that.” At least as of earlier this week, the Knicks were not talking to other teams about trading Towns, according to sources. But his struggles have compelled speculation about his availability and that will intensify with recent news that Antetokounmpo is available.
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“We only worry about one thing. That’s winning. So I got no reason to go into depth on anything else,” said Towns before the Knicks’ 119-92 blowout win over the Raptors. “It’s just at the end of the day the conversations revolve around one thing and one thing only every single day, 24 hours a day — is winning. How can we win? How can I help this team win? The sacrifices I’ve got to continue to make every single night for us to be the best version of ourselves. I’ve been willing to do that every single night, regardless of what anyone talks about.”
Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench in crunch time is starting to become a familiar sight. He didn’t play the last 6:51 of the Knicks’ 103-87 win over the Kings Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, with coach Mike Brown opting for Mitchell Robinson instead. “He saw what he saw,” Towns said after the game. “We got a win, that’s the most important thing.”
Henry Abbott: One person told me that Giannis’s preferred list is three teams: the Heat, the Wolves, and the Knicks. Now, another person told me that is not his list, but would not tell me what his list is. So take it all with a grain of salt. I don’t know what that is. But I do think that there was a lot of heat last summer, the idea is that Giannis would like to play for the Knicks. But I can’t figure out how they could possibly have the deal that the Bucks would like best, right? The Bucks are going to want young players and picks, and the Knicks just contract-wise have very little flexibility. I think it would have to be Karl-Anthony Towns and like a kind of crappy first-round pick as the core of the offer, and it just doesn’t make any sense. I don’t see how that could be. At the very best it’d be some convoluted three-team deal. Other teams can offer a lot more, to be honest.”
Behind the scenes, Knicks officials have tried to downplay any notion that Karl-Anthony Towns could be traded during the season amid New York’s (and Towns') January struggles. However ... A belief persists among some rival teams that Towns is in play to some degree. Or that the Knicks, at the very least, have tried to get a sense of what his market would be.