With a few more wins in their respective conference finals series last spring, the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves would have advanced to the NBA Finals and figured out the ultimate way to determine the winner of their blockbuster October 2024 trade.
But the evidence continues to mount the deal between the teams was a mutually fruitful one.
A trio of players familiar with one another will take the floor Wednesday night, when the Knicks continue a season-high seven-game homestand by hosting the Timberwolves.
The key players in the trade all had impressive nights while leading their teams to victory in the metropolitan New York area on Monday night. Karl-Anthony Towns posted a double-double as the Knicks pulled away for a 119-102 win over the Washington Wizards, while Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo were among the leading scorers as the visiting Timberwolves beat the Brooklyn Nets 125-109.
Towns finished with a season-best 33 points to go with 13 rebounds for his sixth double-double in seven games this year. He had 58 double-doubles in 72 regular season games last year before posting 13 more in the playoffs, when the Knicks reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000 before falling to the Indiana Pacers in six games.
Towns, a native of nearby Edison, N.J., who spent his first nine NBA seasons with the Timberwolves, has also taken well to the white-hot New York spotlight that often seemed to make Randle uncomfortable.
“‘KAT’ was a monster,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said Monday night. “He was a monster on the glass, he was really good defensively, he was a monster inside, outside. He’s starting to feel and find his rhythm in what we’re trying to do.
“I’m telling you, there’s a lot of room there to grow, not just for him but for us around him.”
Randle and DiVincenzo have also thrived with the Timberwolves, who reached the Western Conference finals for the second straight year last spring and lost to the eventual NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in five games.
DiVincenzo, who averaged 11.7 points per game as a key reserve last year, set season highs with 25 points and six 3-pointers Monday, when Randle (19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists) posted his first regular-season triple-double with Minnesota.
Randle had 14 regular-season double-doubles last year and two more in the postseason, including a triple-double against the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals.
“Those are always fun,” Randle said after he closed out the triple-double by dishing to Naz Reid for a 3-pointer with 3:18 left on Monday. “It’s a credit to my teammates making shots. Can’t do it if they don’t make shots. They made shots. They were in the right places, made it easy for me and I was able to make it happen.”
DiVincenzo and Randle may get some additional help Wednesday. Guard Anthony Edwards, who has missed the last four games with a strained right hamstring, returned to practice Tuesday and is listed as questionable.
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson was inactive Monday night as the team continues to manage his workload following a pair of left ankle surgeries. Robinson has played in two of New York’s seven games.
