The Knicks are coming off a title, but one of the biggest questions hanging over their summer is hard to ignore: what happens with Karl-Anthony Towns?
This is not a minor bookkeeping issue. Towns is due to make $57.1 million in 2026-27, and he also has a player option worth roughly $62 million for 2027-28. That kind of money can reshape everything for a team trying to keep a championship roster intact while staying clear of the second apron.
There’s no urgency to slam the door on the situation right now. Towns just helped deliver a title, and he remains one of the league’s rare big men who can stretch a defense from the perimeter while still handling serious rebounding duties.
But the Knicks can’t simply file this away and hope it sorts itself out later. Once a number that large is attached to one player, it starts affecting every other move - from the next bench addition to any future trade decisions when the payroll gets crowded.
The easy instinct is to treat this as a problem for next summer. It isn’t. New York has time, but not endless wiggle room once the expensive contracts start piling up.
Towns still holds the leverage here. He can play out the deal, pick up the option, or look for a longer-term arrangement. The Knicks, meanwhile, have to decide whether they want to make a new commitment now or keep approaching it year by year.
Either way, this isn’t going away. The question isn’t whether Towns fits. It’s how much space the Knicks are willing to carve out for one of their best players while trying to defend a title.
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Celtics May Have Finally Fixed Center With One Awkward Rival Twist
The Knicks center rotation looks different after a summer of turnover, with Mitchell Robinson and Ariel Hukporti both gone in free agency and Andre Drummond brought in to back up Karl-Anthony Towns. For a team that just won the NBA championship in June, the change is more than a footnote, since Robinson had been part of the frontcourt mix and Drummond now steps into a role that should matter whenever Towns needs a breather.
Karl-Anthony Towns also knows the first matchup with Robinson will come with a little extra weirdness, because the two were teammates and remain close friends. Even without the on-court stakes, seeing a familiar big man in a different uniform is the kind of thing that tends to linger, especially when it comes against a rival that has suddenly reshaped its own center spot. [Read more 🡒]
Karl-Anthony Towns Sent A Finals Message To Victor Wembanyama
Karl-Anthony Towns walked into the 2026 NBA Finals with more than a title at stake. Facing Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, the Knicks big man treated the matchup as a chance to show, on the leagues biggest stage, that he belongs among the NBAs most impactful players. His approach was rooted in confidence and competitiveness, and it showed in the way he leaned on his size and strength against one of the games most unique talents.
Towns made life difficult for Wembanyama defensively and used his physical edge to challenge him on the other end, turning the series into a direct test of force and skill. Wembanyama still put up big scoring numbers, but the shot-making was not as clean as the raw points suggested, and Towns performance added another layer to the long-running conversation about his own reputation and how he wants to be viewed when the pressure is highest. [Read more 🡒]