The Minnesota Timberwolves put an abrupt end to Karl-Anthony Towns’ era.
The Minnesota Timberwolves traded star center Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks in the summer of 2024.
It was a move that no one saw coming as the T-Wolves were coming off the heels of reaching the 2024 Western Conference Finals.
In hindsight, Towns has flourished on the Knicks, but he recently looked back at the blockbuster trade and shared his honest reaction.
Karl-Anthony Towns was ‘stunned’ after getting traded to the New York Knicks
Being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, KAT was viewed as the face of the Timberwolves until Anthony Edwards’ rise to stardom.
Even then, no one expected the Timberwolves to trade their star of nine years without a heads-up. However, according to Towns, that’s what the organization did.
“I’m still stunned. I had such a career in Minnesota, we had just come off making the Western Conference Finals,” Towns said on The Young Man and The Three podcast.
He added: “I’ve been blessed to be in Minnesota in the bad times and the great times, and now we are at the great times, and my Timberwolves tenure just gets cut out of nowhere.
“No one in the NBA heard a murmur, no one had an idea, no one had a clue.”
Towns further revealed he was working out with Edwards before the trade was made official.
“We just had a meeting about doing workouts. Me and Ant together, the assistant coaches were like ‘We’re going to do this, maybe tomorrow we’ll come in and work on Saturday’, no one had an idea.”
Karl-Anthony Towns never wanted to be traded, it is a ‘wild’ feeling
Towns spent nearly a decade in Minnesota, and during his stint, he saw a plethora of his teammates get traded. But he never expected to be traded, and it was a wild feeling.
“It was so wild that you are just in shock, there’s just no way that your tenure ends that abruptly, it’s just over, done,” Towns continued.
“I have never been traded. I’ve seen people get traded and never wanted to be in that position and all of a sudden you’re in that position,” KAT stated.
After absorbing the news, Towns still couldn’t believe that he had been traded.
“I looked at him and said, ‘There’s no way this is true,’” Towns concluded.
The move ultimately worked out well for both sides as Towns had a solid year with the Knicks. On the other hand, the Timberwolves got a star in Julius Randle, who fits well with Edwards.
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