Karl-Anthony Towns may now be comfortable in his new New York Knicks digs, but the trade that sent him to the Big Apple this past offseason was one that sent shockwaves to him and his camp. After all, he has been the face of the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise for nearly a decade, and it looked as though the 2023-24 season was going to provide a springboard towards bigger and better things for him with the team he spent the first nine seasons of his career with.

And on Thursday night, Towns will be visiting Target Center for the first time as a member of the Knicks as they face the Timberwolves in what should be an emotional affair all around. To Towns' credit, he believes that he has done everything he can for the franchise when he was in Minnesota and that he will be looking forward to his return to his old stomping grounds with his head held high.

“I don’t know (how they will embrace me). But I know that every single day that I put on that Timberwolves jersey I gave the absolute best of me even when I wasn’t 100 percent. I gave them all of me mentally, physically, spiritually. I was there nine years, so I go there with a lot of pride and joy for the memories that I have,” Towns said, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.

There is a bit of nervousness surrounding Towns as he is unsure what kind of reception he'll be receiving from the Timberwolves crowd. But he is telling himself that he left it all on the line for the team, through the good times and the bad.

“I know the last time I was there, I looked myself in the mirror and I knew I gave the state, the city, the organization over there everything I could possibly give and even found myself giving more than I thought I had,” Towns added.

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Knicks come out better in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade than the Timberwolves

Nov 13, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) reacts after a dunk against the Chicago Bulls during the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images
John Jones-Imagn Images

It's part of the new CBA for teams to cut costs to prolong their window of contention; this was what the Timberwolves did when they traded Karl-Anthony Towns' supermax contract to the Knicks in exchange for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

This was a bitter pill to swallow for the Timberwolves, as they didn't even need to pull off that trade when they did. They could have given their core that made it to the Conference Finals in 2024 another shot. But they didn't, and now, the Knicks are benefitting from Towns' incredible play.