Minnesota
Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns doesn’t know what Minnesota greeting will be with trade emotions still raw
ORLANDO — NBA seasons are like dog years.
And nine with the same team is rare, especially in Adam Silver’s era of player empowerment/movement.
To put it in local perspective, the last Knick to play nine seasons with the franchise was Allan Houston — roughly 20 years ago — and he missed 94 of his last 164 games.
It translated to a run of 16 years and counting as a Knicks executive for Houston, a position with excellent job security, having survived several regime changes.
Karl-Anthony Towns returns Thursday to the Target Center in a similar context.
He was drafted first overall by the Timberwolves in 2015 and sits No. 2 on the franchise’s all-time list of points, rebounds and blocks.
Until Anthony Edwards alters the order, the list of greatest Timberwolves starts No. 1 Kevin Garnett and No. 2 Towns, without much debate.
Despite this history, Towns said he’s unsure how Thursday’s crowd will react to his return.
He also passionately defended his commitment to the franchise that traded him in October.
“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,” Towns said after his latest double-double with the Knicks, a victory Sunday over the Magic. “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 then referenced his final moment with the organization in May, when the T-Wolves were eliminated in the conference finals and he emotionally blew kisses to the crowd.
On the eve of training camp, the 29-year-old was traded for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.
“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,” said Towns, who returned for the playoffs last season from a torn meniscus. “So I was proud of the man that I presented over there in a Timberwolves jersey. You never know how the fans will respond. But I know for me, my household, I know what I gave that organization, and I am happy and proud for what I was able to do.”
Towns’ stint was polarizing — there was a lot of losing packed into nine years — but there’s little doubt Minnesotans will give him a standing ovation with a video tribute.
His departure was about dumping payroll to avoid salary cap hell, not about his play or attitude.
He was also part of the organization’s only playoff appearances since 2004 and signed two extensions.
The better question is how Towns’ game will respond to the extra layers of distractions.
“We’ve got a win to get so I better handle it accordingly, for sure,” Towns said. “Like I said, I don’t know, I can’t imagine myself even in a situation like this but here we are.”
Underscoring Towns’ surprise about being traded, he had slimmed down in the offseason with the belief he’d again play power forward next to Rudy Gobert.
But then he was abruptly shipped to New York to play center and, unsurprisingly given the Knicks’ lack of depth, is now averaging his most minutes since 2018.
“What you’re seeing now is a lot of hours in the summer I put in,” said Towns, who is averaging 24.8 points with 13.9 rebounds and is easily on pace for his fifth All-Star selection, perhaps in his first start. “Instead of having fun, I was in the gym working on my body, working on my game, working on my cardio. I’m happy I put that work in because obviously things got real crazy to start the season.”
Towns added: “You’re a four and then the next thing you know you’re a five. I had to do whatever I had to do. I’m not going to say I got heavier but I definitely knew what I had to do.”
The emotions on the other side of the trade are a little more complicated and tinged with animosity.
After helping resurrect the franchise from two decades of mostly misery, Randle never got his second contract extension and was instead shipped off just days after helping open a school in The Bronx.
The last time he was at the Garden, Randle said his chapter with the Knicks was closed.
“It’s finished now,” he said. “I got unfinished business where I’m at.”
DiVincenzo was shocked and upset about being traded just a year into a four-season contract.
His preseason return to the Garden included a couple heated moments with the Knicks bench.
Thursday is the rematch with regular-season implications.
“I think [Donte] is going to try to come in and kick our ass,” Josh Hart said. “I think Julius is going to try to come in and do the same. As they should. I think KAT will probably come in with a chip on his shoulder also.
“You know that is going to happen. You know it is going to be a fun game.”
The very early returns of the trade have certainly been positive for the Knicks, who are getting elite scoring and defensive rebounding production from Towns while sitting third in the East at 16-10.
The Timberwolves (14-11) have also started to pick it up with six wins in their past seven games.
Randle is playing well with averages of 20.1 points on 48 percent shooting in 33 minutes — especially considering he missed most of last season with a dislocated shoulder — while DiVincenzo is struggling mightily with a 35 percent field-goal rate.
“It’s a big trade, so you expect people to be comparing it until the end of time,” Towns said. “It’s just my job to do what I can control, which is be the best version of myself possible for this team and helping this team succeed. Obviously the comparisons will be up to ya’ll. My job will be making sure I take care of my end.”
And on Thursday, the extra task is navigating the unpredictable emotions of returning to a very familiar place.
“You say this like I’m used to this s–t,” Towns smiled. “I’ve seen people traded. I’ve never been traded.”
Trading LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves will make the Charlotte Hornets worse in 2026-27. There is no denying that.
Ball was the lone driver of Charlotte’s top-five offense, speeding the Hornets’ fast-paced attack up and down and all around the floor to create open looks for himself and his talented teammates. LaMelo’s Gastonia shooting range, unorthodox handles, eagle-eyed passing, and his ability to heat up in a moment’s notice just simply cannot be aggregated in the interim.
With Ball on the floor, Charlotte’s offensive rating jumped by 11.6 points per 100 possessions, good for the 99th percentile among guards in the NBA. Kon Knueppel’s three-point percentage increased by 10.3 points when he shared the floor with Ball, and Brandon Miller shot 20.5% better at the rim (an area where he struggles) with LaMelo helping create looks for him.
Everyone who plays alongside LaMelo Ball gets better — the proof is in any publicly available number you can find.
Charlotte’s historically efficient offense cratered when LaMelo hit the bench, and trading him now, no matter what they got in return, will immediately set back the Hornets’ push to become the premier NBA franchise they aspire to be.
But what if I told you this move does make some sense in the Hornet’s long-term team build? And that Charlotte is justified to sell-high on their All-NBA caliber point guard? I’m not sure I believe it, so I’m going to try and convince myself as I attempt to convince you.
Justifying Charlotte’s Decision to Trade LaMelo Ball
I can understand some trepidation about building the whole plane out of LaMelo Ball. He only played a total of 105 games in the three seasons prior to 2025-26, and until that becomes the exception, not the norm, it will always be dangerous to have him as the centerpiece of a franchise.
LaMelo Ball played 72 games in 2025-26, the second-highest number of his young NBA career. The Hornets were cautious about over-taxing their star creator, only playing him 28 minutes per game, a career-low, and crafting a roster that was built to ease LaMelo’s burden.
Last summer, Charlotte targeted Tre Mann (which looks bad in hindsight), Collin Sexton, and Spencer Dinwidde to provide supplementary ball handling and lower the league-high 37.1% usage rate Ball racked up in 2024-25. Championships are won on the margins, and if you have to allocate extra resources to your point guard room as a parachute for a player like LaMelo, there’s a chance you’re missing out on some impact on the fringes of your roster.
Also, the skill sets of Ball, Knueppel, and Miller are quite redundant. They are all perimeter-focused offensive options who struggle to score in the paint. Charlotte could believe that it was necessary to move one of them in an attempt to diversify their offensive attack, and due to Kon and Brandon’s contract situation and LaMelo’s long-term health outlook (which the Hornets would know better than anybody, by the way), they decided that the time to sell-high on Ball was now.
How high would the ceiling of a fully-formed, maxed-out contractually Ball, Knueppel, and Miller trio even be? A second round exit assuming everything goes right? By trading Ball now, adding a talented front court piece in Naz Reid, creating the largest trade exception in league history, and setting yourself up to be a real player in trade talks about any disgruntled superstar, Jeff Peterson just created a number of avenues to rebuild this team around its burgeoning stars.
Could the package have been more robust? Sure. But there’s no guarantee another team with more assets to spare than Minnesota would have even registered more than nominal interst in LaMelo Ball. The market is the market. Peterson said last summer that he’ll push the chips in when the time is right, and if nothing else, he just added a few more to his stash.
There is also a chance that the Timberwolves look radically different when these swaps and picks are ready to convey. Minnesota’s asset reserves are bone dry, starting center Rudy Gobert is on the back-nine of his NBA career, and the Western Conference has a couple of well-positioned juggernauts that the Wolves will have to navigate every year that they employ Anthony Edwards and Ball.
And what if Edwards becomes disillusioned with his standing in Minnesota and forces his way out before his five-year, $244M contract expires in 2028-29? Or what if he leaves that summer in free agency? The Hornets will have the opportunity to pick up the pieces and feast off of the wreckage in Minnesota in that nightmare scenario for the Timberwolves.
There has to be more bubbling underneath the surface for Charlotte to be willing to take the massive PR hit of trading LaMelo Ball just weeks after the franchise played some of the best basketball in the league for an extended period. There is an argument to be made that this deal says more about Charlotte’s lack of belief in the ceiling of a LaMelo-led team than anything else.
And there is merit to that.
Ball has played in four Play-In Tournament games and struggled mighitly in three of them. When the game slows down and becomes increasingly more physical, Ball has failed to hold up. The Hornets must be projecting that Ball’s postseason struggles will continue in Minnesota, capping the long-term ceiling of the Timberwolves.
This is a bet against a couple of things: LaMelo Ball’s long-term health, the viability of a back court duo of Ball and Edwards, and Minnestoa’s asset-poor state. I’m not sure if it’s a bet I would have been willing to make, but it is the one Jeff Peterson and the Hornets decided to.
And whether you like it or not, the dice have been thrown.
There is now more pressure than ever on the shoulders of Jeff Peterson. He somehow pulled off the rare feat of making his team worse in the short term while sending the expectations of his fanbase through the roof. There has to be more moves coming from Charlotte. There has to.
Which is why I’m calling on you to holster your torches and pitchforks for now. In a vacuum, this deal is a tough one to swallow. LaMelo Ball brought unquantifiable joy to the city of Charlotte and spearheaded a run that awoke the long dormant basketball-crazed city. Not only did his impact on winning supersede the narratives around him, his impact on the franchise’s bottom line did as well. The city loved LaMelo, and it is a shame that he was sent packing just as things were starting to percolate for the first time in his Hornets career.
However, if it is a part of a larger plan that reshapes the Hornets’ roster into a group that can compete at a high level in the NBA playoffs, then I will tip my cap to Peterson and his team. Winning does cure all at the end of the day, right?
Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter for the latest news and updates on the Charlotte Hornets
Follow
Minnesota leaders are sending photos that highlight the state’s landmarks and culture to the U.S. Capitol for a special time capsule.
The time capsule gives each state and territory delegation an opportunity to provide a snapshot of time in 2026 as America celebrates its 250th birthday.
Photos from all eight Minnesota congressional districts were sent to the Capitol.
They include Lake Superior, the State Fair, the loon, Prince’s Purple Rain and the National Eagle Center.
The capsule will be sealed inside the Capitol Visitor Center until America’s 500th birthday on July 4, 2276.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (WCCO News) – Vance Boelter, the man who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, is set to be sentenced on federal charges later this summer.
According to court documents, the sentencing date is set for July 23 at 10 a.m. at the Minneapolis federal courthouse.
Earlier this month, Boelter, 58, changed his plea to guilty on six counts against him in the June 14, 2025 lawmaker shootings as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors.
Under the terms of the plea deal, Boelter’s recommended sentence will be two consecutive life terms followed by 40 years. The judge approved the plea deal and ordered an expedited sentencing.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it would not seek the death penalty against Boelter, which, according to a letter from U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, was part of the proposed plea agreement.
In his guilty plea, Boelter admitted to fatally shooting the Hortmans, wounding state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and attempting to shoot their daughter, Hope. The shootings prompted a massive manhunt that lasted 43 hours.
Following the guilty plea, theHoffman family released a statementthat said, “there is no justice when our family and our state will never truly heal.”
Boelter also faces state charges, including two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count each of felony cruelty to an animal and impersonating an officer. A guilty verdict for one of the first-degree murder charges carries a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office confirmed its case against him will move forward.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
-
Lifestyle20 minutes ago‘The Bear’ is back in the kitchen
-
Technology33 minutes agoAndroid 17’s new foldable gaming mode could make flippy phones more fun
-
World36 minutes agoShark attack survivor wakes from 10-day coma and shares first words with family at her hospital bedside
-
Politics41 minutes agoTrump administration pledges $150M in aid, deploys Navy warships after deadly Venezuela earthquakes
-
Sports50 minutes agoSecond Lady Usha Vance joins celebrity-filled crowd for Team USA’s group-stage finale in LA
-
Technology56 minutes agoDebt collection letter for debt you don’t owe? What to do now
-
Business1 hour agoNewsom blesses Uber ballot measure truce — but fight over car crash lawsuits continues
-
Entertainment1 hour agoLa Cruz offers a musical memorial to Pulse shooting victims on Pride Month
