NBA Northwest

Amid questions about his future after being acquired by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Julius Randle is making it known he is happy to be with his new team.

At his introductory press conference on Thursday, Randle said being with the T-Wolves is "super important" because he feels wanted.

"You want to be somewhere where you're wanted," he explained. "I feel wanted here. ... Ultimately, yeah, I do want to be here."

Randle said his initial reaction to the trade was shock, but then he felt excited about playing in Minnesota and reuniting with head coach Chris Finch.

Julius Randle said he was shocked by the trade. But after sleeping on it for a night he woke up Saturday really excited to come to Minnesota.

“I just want to help.”

— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 3, 2024

Randle on his time playing for Finch in New Orleans: "That was the easiest the game has ever felt, playing under Finch. He's just that good."

— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 3, 2024

The Knicks sent Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves as part of a three-team trade that brought Karl-Anthony Towns to New York.

Finch was an associate head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans during Randle's lone season with the team in 2018-19. He had the best season of his career up to that point, averaging 21.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in 73 appearances.

There were a lot of reactions to the surprise trade, not least of which was how it impacted the long-term financial outlook for the Timberwolves. It's well known they have an unsettled ownership situation with an arbitration hearing set to begin on Nov. 4.

The Timberwolves saved $26.5 million in payroll and luxury tax savings in the deal.

The Minnesota Timberwolves stand to save $26.5 million in payroll and luxury tax penalties if they don't take on any additional salaries in this trade.

They are still set to be over the $188.9 million second apron this season. They're $14.5 million above it with 15 players.

— Yossi Gozlan (@YossiGozlan) September 28, 2024

Randle's contract pays him $33.1 million for the upcoming season, plus a player option for just under $31 million in 2025-26. Rudy Gobert is also entering the last guaranteed season of his contract with a $43.8 million salary and a $46.7 million player option for 2025-26.

NBA rules limit the amount of money Randle could sign for if he wanted to extend his deal with the Timberwolves right now. He is only allowed to add three years to his contract with a starting salary that is 105 percent of the final-year salary on his current deal.

Per The Athletic's Fred Katz, Randle was eligible for a four-year, $181 million extension with the Knicks prior to the trade.

Randle had his best-sustained success in the NBA during his five seasons with the Knicks. He was named to the All-Star team and All-NBA team twice, as well as the 2020-21 Most Improved Player award.

A shoulder injury that required surgery ended Randle's 2023-24 season after 46 games. He averaged 24.0 points on 47.2 percent shooting, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game prior to the injury.

The Timberwolves are betting on Randle being able to improve their offensive output and maintain their high-level defensive intensity after advancing to the Western Conference Finals last season for just the second time in franchise history.

Nikola Jokić and the Serbia national team had a lot to celebrate after winning bronze in the 2024 Summer Olympics, but falling one win short of the gold medal game was a tough blow to take.

"It was a good match. Probably the biggest defeat of my career," Jokić said of Serbia's semifinal loss to the United States, per Eurohoops. "[We had a] big chance. In the end, they beat us. People from the stands will probably see it as a normal defeat, but for those who played, it was certainly one of the toughest defeats in our careers."

Serbia led 76-63 heading into the fourth quarter against the United States and it held onto a slim two-point advantage inside the final three minutes. But Stephen Curry put the U.S. ahead on a three-pointer with 2:24 remaining and that was pretty much that.

It was a heartbreaking way for the Serbians to lose and the nature of international basketball added to the misery. Jokić and his teammates have to wait another four years for a crack at Olympic gold.

By that point, the three-time NBA MVP will be 33. Bogdan Bogdanović, who averaged 18.3 points in the Paris Games, will be 35 as well. Once the 2028 Summer Olympics roll around, the gap between Serbia and the United States might have widened as the former's best players exit their athletic primes. With Jokić in particular, it could be a long time before Serbia produces such a generational talent again.

It's no wonder the six-time All-Star looks back on this summer in such a meaningful context.

Veteran center Karl-Anthony Towns is set to embark on a new chapter of his career after being traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the New York Knicks, and he paid tribute to the franchise that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2015 with a video on social media.

"You'll always hold a special place in my heart," Towns wrote in the caption. "Thank you for everything."

To the Timberwolves Family: 

Nine years ago, I arrived in Minnesota as a young man with a dream. Little did I know that this place would become my home, and its people would become my family. Your love, support, and unwavering loyalty have fueled my journey and inspired me to be… pic.twitter.com/PP1pGzvGcx

— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) October 2, 2024

The Timberwolves also posted a video tribute to Towns on Wednesday:

made an impact on and off the court. 💙 pic.twitter.com/MYMJytuhuE

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) October 2, 2024

Towns was sent to the Knicks as part of a three-team trade that included the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for a package that included Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a 2025 first-round pick. The 28-year-old is entering the first year of his four-year, $224 million max extension, which played a factor in the Timberwolves' decision to ship him away.

After nine years in Minnesota, Towns was considered the face of the franchise. However, rising star Anthony Edwards took over that mantle over the past two years.

A four-time All-Star, Towns played 62 games last season and averaged 21.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists to help lead the Timberwolves to a third-place finish in the Western Conference with a 56-26 record. The team advanced to the conference finals before being eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in five games.

Towns is joining a Knicks team that is hungry to contend for a title following an impressive offseason. New York also acquired swingman Mikal Bridges, re-signed wing defender OG Anunoby and signed star point guard Jalen Brunson to a contract extension. A New Jersey native, Towns now has the opportunity to bring his winning ways to the East Coast.

The new-look Knicks will begin their quest for title contention when they open the 2024-25 season on Oct. 22 against the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics.

Following the completion of the trade between the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York in exchange for a package that included Julius Randle, Randle's wife Kendra posted a video on TikTok discussing her reaction to the trade.

"When we heard Minnesota, it was pretty shocking," she said. "Although we were so ready to leave New York, living in a condo with two kids is so hard."

Kendra Randle says she and her family were ready to leave New York, and calls Minnesota ‘gorgeous’

“When we heard Minnesota, it was pretty shocking. Although we were so ready to leave New York, living in a condo with two kids is so hard.”

pic.twitter.com/100rXOsvWO

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 2, 2024

The trade between the Knicks and Timberwolves was first reported last Friday, less than a week before training camp. The deal was reportedly finalized on Tuesday, with the Charlotte Hornets being added to complete the trade.

Charlotte is also trading James Nnaji – the No. 31 pick in the 2023 NBA draft – to New York to finalize the trade, sources tell me, @JonKrawczynski and @FredKatz. https://t.co/7RFRIl7apN

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 2, 2024

Kendra went on to clarify that the Randle family was already considering moving out of New York City for a lifestyle change.

"It was a great experience but we were already looking to move outside of the city," she explained. "It was just getting so hard and overwhelming for us because my husband's from Texas and I'm from Kentucky, and that's just not how we grew up."

Kendra praised Minnesota as "beautiful" and added that they're "really excited for a new switchup, a new chapter for our family." However, she admitted that it was difficult to explain to their seven-year-old son that he had to leave his school and friends.

Randle is entering his 11th season in the NBA and had never been traded in his career. He spent the last five seasons with the Knicks and will be playing the 2024-25 campaign on the final year of his contract.

After being limited to 46 games last season due to shoulder surgery, Randle will be looking to bounce back and make a statement in his first year in Minnesota.

Trade rumors have been swirling around Davante Adams this week, and if the Las Vegas Raiders indeed end up moving him—ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Tuesday the Raiders have informed other teams they will "consider" trading him and want a second-round pick and "additional compensation" in return—at least one very prominent fan of the team is out.

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Damian Lillard posted on social media that he is not happy with the rumors surrounding Adams and his fandom is one the line:

If the Raiders trade Tae for a damn 2nd round pick I’m done.

— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) October 1, 2024

Lillard, who is from Oakland—the home of the Raiders between the 1960-81 and 1995-19 seasons—has always been both a vocal supporter, and critic, of his favorite NFL team.

He has the ink to prove it:

Looks like @Dame_Lillard got some new ink this summer, including a @RAIDERS tattoo pic.twitter.com/TBOmD2EzR7

— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) July 4, 2018

That support survived the team's relocation to Las Vegas in 2020, though Lillard called that decision a "loss for the city" while speaking with Sam Gordon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Nov. 2020.

"That just looks kind of weird," he added of seeing the team in Vegas. "It was like a reminder that they're really in Vegas. They're not playing in Oakland ever again. That was the only time where I was just like, 'Damn, they're really gone.'"

And Lillard has also understood in the past if players like Adams might want to depart during periods of struggle for the Raiders. Here's what he had to say following a 27-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Nov. 2022:

If Crosby, Tae, and Waller get tf out of Vegas I wouldn’t be mad at em.. this bad

— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) November 6, 2022

This time around, however, Lillard doesn't seem to have the stomach for losing Adams at such a modest price point. Sometimes, fans just hit a breaking point, and Raiders fans like Lillard have been forced to endure a lot of disappointment in recent years.

Anthony Edwards is going to miss Karl-Anthony Towns.

The Timberwolves reportedly traded Towns to the New York Knicks in exchange for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick via the Detroit Pistons. When asked about the move at Timberwolves media day, Edwards acknowledged that the move "really hurt" due to his close relationship with Towns.

Anthony Edwards spoke to reporters on Media Day about Karl-Anthony Towns reportedly being traded to the Knicks.

"It’s a business.”

Edwards said he’s ready to meet the new guys and roll with it.

(via @JonKrawczynski) pic.twitter.com/wYmqnk8zDG

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) September 30, 2024

Edwards also said that he understands that the NBA is "a business" and that he is looking forward to meeting the new players and rolling with it, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.

Towns was the No. 1 pick of the 2015 NBA draft and had spent his entire nine-year career with the Timberwolves. That includes the entirety of Edwards' four-year career to this point.

He has been a cornerstone piece of the franchise alongside Edwards and Rudy Gobert, but now Minnesota will see if Randle and DiVincenzo can add a new element to the team.

Towns, meanwhile, will solidify the center position for a Knicks team that desperately needs some help while Mitchell Robinson is sidelined.

The move could benefit both teams but it also sees a beloved figure depart for a new opportunity. Edwards now becomes an even clearer focal point in Minnesota and will attempt to build chemistry with Randle and DiVincenzo as the franchise hopes to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

Julius Randle's family is seemingly excited about the star's move to Minnesota.

Randle's wife, Kendra, shared a photo edit of him in a Timberwolves jersey after he was traded from the New York Knicks on Friday.

😍💙🐺 pic.twitter.com/2gq6pjZpno

— Kendra Randle (@KendraRandle_) September 28, 2024

The Timberwolves acquired Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick from the Knicks in return for star center Karl-Anthony Towns, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported on Friday.

It will take a while to adjust to seeing Randle in a Wolves jersey after he spent the last five seasons in New York, but his wife seems to approve of his new threads. The change of scenery could be a good move for the 11th-year veteran as he looks to have a strong second act to his career after a successful tenure with the Knicks.

Randle saw his career take off in New York, winning the NBA's Most Improved Player award after the 2020-21 season saw him put up 24.1 points and 10.2 boards per game. He was an All-Star three times while with the Knicks and he'll look to put up another All-Star-caliber season in Minnesota alongside Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert.

The Timberwolves are coming off one of their best seasons in franchise history, reaching the Western Conference Finals where they fell to the Dallas Mavericks. Despite the outstanding season, Minnesota saw it best to end the Towns and Gobert experiment and get a fresh face in the paint.

The Knicks are also coming off a big year that saw them fall just short of reaching the conference finals despite a slew of injuries, and they're hoping the addition of Towns can mold them into a championship-caliber team this season.

The Minnesota Timberwolves' prospective ownership group led by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez is optimistic about winning the dispute with team owner Glen Taylor that is set to play out in arbitration, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst.

"After the discovery process over the summer, Lore's group has grown confident it will win and has gotten all of its finances in order, sources said," Windhorst wrote. "They plan to arrive at the proceeding with more than $900 million in escrow with the backing of billionaires Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg."

Per Windhorst, the group will also show "more than $200 million" in working capital to prove that they can complete the purchase of the last 60 percent of the $1.5 billion sale.

Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic revealed in June that the group led by Rodriguez and Lore currently owns "nearly 40 percent" of the Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx. The group reportedly had a previous agreement with Taylor on a "multi-step" purchase process at a $1.5 billion valuation that started in 2021.

However, Taylor announced that he would no longer be selling his controlling stake in the team in March (via ESPN's Ramona Shelburne). He alleged that Lore and Rodriguez failed to meet certain contractual deadlines and obligations of the sale process.

This included an inability to land the final $600 million they needed in funding to secure the majority purchase by the deadline (h/t Charania and Krawczynski). Lore and Rodriguez claimed that they submitted commitment letters for the $600 million and pointed to language in the contract that they were eligible for a 90-day extension, which ultimately led to arbitration.

Even if Lore and Rodriguez can show that Taylor broke the terms of the agreement in March, the sale still isn't guaranteed. Windhorst noted on Saturday that the other 29 team owners will vote on the sale, which would require Taylor's partners since 1994 to vote against him. Rodriguez and Lore have been planning for the scenario, meeting with several owners throughout the past year.

"It seems like there are lawsuits on the horizon no matter what," Windhorst wrote.

Arbitration will begin on Nov. 4.

Karl-Anthony Towns went to the Minnesota Timberwolves' practice facility for the final time following his trade to the New York Knicks on Friday night.

Towns posted an image of himself putting shots up with his father on his Instagram story.

KAT was at the T-Wolves facility with his dad hours after getting traded

Can’t imagine everything he’s going through right now…he had spent his entire career with Minnesota 😔 pic.twitter.com/WBWfRQGV35

— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) September 28, 2024

After spending the first nine years of his career with the organization, the 28-year-old was dealt to the Knicks for a package that consisted of Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and a future first-round draft pick via the Detroit Pistons, per Jon Krawczynski, Fred Katz and Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Towns didn't appear to be aware of the trade negotiations while they were occurring. His camp was "stunned" by the move, per Krawczynski.

…

— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) September 28, 2024

He finishes his Timberwolves career as one of the best players in franchise history, ranking No. 2 on the team's all-time points, rebounds and blocks lists. After Minnesota was eliminated in the Western Conference Finals last season, Towns discussed his desire to remain with the organization.

"I'm confident I'll be able to be here with my brothers and continue what I love to do here at home," he said on May 31, via Krawczynski. "So that's the plan, nothing's changed on my side. I love this city. I love this organization. I love this city. It's given me my life, me and my family."

Towns will be surrounded by a few familiar faces in New York, as team president Leon Rose used to be his agent before taking over the Knicks in 2020. Head coach Tom Thibodeau previously coached the four-time All-Star in Minnesota from 2016 until the start of the 2018-19 season.

His new team will also have championship aspirations, with the Knicks pairing him alongside Jalen Brunson in their starting lineup following a second-round playoff appearance. New York also boasts two of the association's top defensive wings in OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, with the latter acquired in a July trade with the Brooklyn Nets.

Towns will still be competing for a title on his new team, but the change of scenery didn't seem to be something that he was expecting with training camp beginning on Tuesday.

Even though Karl-Anthony Towns' social-media reaction to being traded seemed like one of surprise, the Minnesota Timberwolves reportedly never guaranteed the four-time All-Star he wouldn't be dealt at some point.

Per ESPN's Brian Windhorst, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly "could not give that promise" when Towns previously sought assurances he would remain with the club while settling into his new role of supporting Anthony Edwards as the No. 1 option.

On Friday, The Athletic's Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski reported the Timberwolves agreed to send Towns to the New York Knicks for Donte DiVincenzo, Julius Randle, Keita Bates-Diop and a future first-round draft pick via the Detroit Pistons.

Shortly before the trade was reported, Towns made a cryptic post on social media with an ellipsis.

…

— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) September 28, 2024

There was certainly some surprise that Towns was traded right now, both in terms of how close it is to the start of the 2024-25 campaign and because of the success Minnesota had last season.

It's not totally unheard of for a blockbuster trade involving a star player to happen in late September or early October. Damian Lillard was traded from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team deal exactly one year ago Friday.

For the most part, though, teams have finished all of their pertinent offseason business long ago and will at least start the season to see what their roster can do before thinking of breaking it apart.

The Timberwolves had the second-best season in franchise history by record (56-26) last season. They also made the Western Conference Finals for just the second time before losing to the Dallas Mavericks in five games.

While those are reasons to be surprised that Towns was dealt, there had been rumblings about him as a potential trade candidate for a long time due in part to Minnesota's luxury-tax concerns with an expensive roster and uncertain ownership situation.

In fact, the Knicks were reportedly monitoring Towns' situation with the T-Wolves as far back as October 2023.

Towns spent the bulk of his tenure in Minnesota as the team's best player after being drafted No. 1 overall in 2015. He took a step back in the overall hierarchy once Edwards was selected with the top pick in 2020, but the duo formed a nice partnership over time.

The 28-year-old Towns made the All-Star team twice in the past three seasons. He is coming off one of his most efficient offensive seasons with a 62.5 true shooting percentage and a 41.6 percent success rate from three-point range in 62 starts.