Despite Knicks' Success, Wolves Have Nothing to Regret About KAT Trade

The hindsight analyzers and hot take purveyors on ESPN will tell you that Karl-Anthony Towns being four wins away from an NBA championship means the Minnesota Timberwolves made a major mistake when they traded him away two seasons ago. Your job is to ignore them and see the forest for the trees.

“The Minnesota Timberwolves are on the verge of making one of the worst trades in NBA history," Kendrick Perkins said on First Take on Tuesday, the morning after KAT helped the Knicks complete a sweep of the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. "If Karl-Anthony Towns go and complete the mission and be a Robin to Jalen Brunson and bring a championship to New York, that’s going to make the Minnesota Timberwolves look like fools.

"Right now, what are we saying about the Minnesota Timberwolves? That they need to find a Robin to go alongside Anthony Edwards, when they had one all along. But they chose Rudy Gobert's contract over Karl-Anthony Towns. If Karl-Anthony Towns help the Knicks complete this mission, we can officially say (the Timberwolves) made the worst trade in NBA history."

To give some credit to Perkins, he's at least been consistent in his messaging on this topic. He's been saying for multiple years that he thinks the KAT-for-Julius Randle trade could go down as the worst in NBA history from Minnesota's perspective. It's a laughably, absurdly bad take that never comes with Perkins acknowledging the primary reason why the Wolves made the trade, but at least he hasn't flip-flopped on his stance.

The Knicks advancing to their first NBA Finals in 27 years has made the KAT trade a subject of discussion once more. It'll happen again if New York overcomes the odds and beats either Oklahoma City or San Antonio to win the title. So let's take a moment to look at the big picture and examine why Tim Connelly and the Timberwolves have nothing to regret about the trade, regardless of what has happened in these playoffs and what might happen in the next couple weeks.

Karl-Anthony Towns | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The first thing that needs to be emphasized — which Perkins never does — is that the NBA's latest Collective Bargaining Agreement is the No. 1 reason why KAT is no longer in Minnesota. The Wolves weren't going to be able to keep him long-term alongside Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid without being hurt by the severe roster-building penalties of the salary cap's second apron. Towns' four-year, $220 million extension was about to kick in when the trade happened. Something had to happen in order for the Wolves to create necessary financial flexibility.

They also didn't simply choose Gobert over Towns, as the two have very different contracts and Gobert didn't have the trade value to land a package like the one the Wolves got from New York two years ago.

That package, by the way, included more than just Randle, who has had moments with the Wolves but has decisively not been as good for Minnesota as Towns has been for New York. The return also included one of the NBA's best shooters in Donte DiVincenzo, who has been a key role player for the Wolves and would've likely helped them be more competitive against this Spurs in this year's second round, had he not torn his Achilles against the Nuggets. It also included a pick that became Joan Beringer, the 19-year-old French big man with legitimately tantalizing long-term upside.

In the final season before the KAT trade, the Wolves made the conference finals and lost in five games — in part because Towns shot 38 percent from the field and 24 percent from three against the Mavericks. In the first season after the trade, the Wolves made the conference finals and lost in five games against a juggernaut Thunder team. This year, they lost to a rising juggernaut in the Spurs in round two. As poorly as Randle played in each of those two series, it feels like a stretch to suggest Towns' presence would've gotten the Wolves past OKC or San Antonio.

Karl-Anthony Towns in the 2024 WCF | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

That brings us to another topic that can't be avoided in this conversation, which is the massive gap between the NBA's two conferences. The Wolves — at least for now — have the misfortune of being in the West, which looks like it may be dominated by the Thunder and Spurs for a long time. The Knicks are in the East, which simply does not have the same level of top-tier competition. To their credit, they've been utterly dominant in winning 11 straight games against the Hawks, 76ers, and Cavaliers, but none of those teams are in the same realm as the top two in the West. They all likely fall below the West's next tier of the Wolves, Nuggets, Rockets, and (if healthy) Lakers.

Make no mistake, Towns has been outstanding in this run for the Knicks, delivering in the postseason in ways Randle never has. KAT has averaged roughly 17 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 6 assists per game on elite shooting efficiency while playing solid team defense. He has been great, and the trade to acquire him has worked out brilliantly for the Knicks.

But do you know why having a No. 2 option who makes $55 million a year works for New York? Because their best player, Jalen Brunson, made the unprecedented decision to leave over $100 million on the table when he signed his extension two years ago. That move from Brunson is why the Knicks can afford to have Towns and OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges on huge contracts alongside their superstar. And even with that collection of talent, they're going to be significant underdogs against whoever emerges from the heavyweight bout in the West.

Wolves fans should be happy for Towns, who has broken through to the NBA's biggest stage after coming up short in the conference finals in each of the last two years. He was nothing but loyal to Minnesota during his nine years with the Timberwolves, never asking out during hard times. He was a great player on the court and an incredible representative of the franchise off of it. This is a well-deserved accomplishment for him, regardless of how the next series turns out.

But the Knicks' success doesn't mean the Wolves should regret the trade they made two years ago. Personally, I think they'd do it all again even knowing everything they know now. It was necessary for apron reasons and brought them DiVincenzo and Beringer in addition to Randle, whose contract they should be able to move if and when they choose to pivot this offseason. The Wolves and Knicks, because of the conferences they play in, are in totally different situations.

Perkins can call it the worst trade ever, but even if the Knicks win it all, the Wolves probably wouldn't do anything different in hindsight. In a world of talk-show hot takes, we can still use a little logic and critical thinking in our analysis.

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