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After the Phoenix Suns inked All-Star Devin Booker to a whopping two-year, $145 million extension, one NBA insider believes New York Knicks All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns could be heading down a similar path in the near future. The Knicks inked Mikal Bridges on a four-year extension, worth $150 million this summer. New York doesn't necessarily need to think about Towns' new deal, considering he'll be entering the second year of a four-year deal.
Towns has a player option for the 2027-28 season worth $61 million. However, with the Knicks committing to their core, extending Town on a short-term deal could be what ends up happening, per ESPN's Brian Windhorst via The Hoop Collective.
“The Knicks have the option of riding this core out, or their pathway forward is to make a trade. Mikal Bridges got extended this summer,” Windhorst said. “We have not heard anything about Karl-Anthony Towns getting extended. And I don't think it has a commentary on Towns or the season he had. I just think that Towns has three years and about 160 million left on his contract. Actually, I think it's more than that, I think it's $170 [million], and there would be some challenge to trade that.”
As for comparing Towns' extension to the kind of short-term deal the Suns agreed to with Booker, the Knicks could take a similar route as the Minnesota Timberwolves did with Rudy Gobert, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps.
“I think if Karl-Anthony Towns were to sign an extension, and I don't think there's been real discussions of that one way or the other this summer, which I wouldn't take it as any sort of a negative thing,” Bontemps said. “I think it's much more likely, rather than the Devin Booker route, it's more likely the Rudy Gobert's route.”
The Timberwolves and Gobert agreed to a three-year, $110 million extension this summer.
Insider makes 40% prediction for major Knicks trade
While many believe between Knicks All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns' current lucrative deal and their re-commitment to Mikal Bridges, this will be the core for their immediate future. Still, despite coming off of an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, one NBA insider put a 40% chance on Knicks trading one of their core players.
There's no guarantee the Knicks will look the same by opening night, per The Athletic's James L Edwards III.
“I think there’s a 40 percent chance one of the ‘usual starters' isn’t on the roster opening night,” Edwards III said.
However, after Bridges and Mitchell Robinson's respective contract extension, that seems unlikely. But crazier things have happened before.
