Karl-Anthony Towns’ next Knicks contract is going to be about more than the headline number.
An extension is coming. Given how New York has handled important players who are a year from free agency, that part is less a guess than a certainty. The real question is how the Knicks want to structure it - and whether Towns’ new deal begins after this season or in 2028-29.
That timing matters because Towns is sitting on a $61 million player option for 2027-28. Under the league’s rules, veteran extensions can’t run longer than five total seasons, counting the years already on the deal. Since Towns technically has two seasons left between 2026-27 and that player option, a four-year extension would require him to give up the option entirely.
In the ideal Knicks version of this, Towns would do exactly that. He’d tear up the $61 million option, take a discounted four-year deal, and give the team more room below the second apron next summer.
But there’s another path, and it could end up being the more useful one for New York.
If Towns keeps the $61 million salary for 2027-28 and then signs a three-year extension, the Knicks lose some immediate flexibility, but they may gain something even more important when Jalen Brunson’s next deal comes into play.
That’s because Brunson’s salary is set to climb to $63.9 million in 2028-29 if he signs an extension next summer. That’s a huge leap from the $40.5 million he’ll make in 2027-28, and it creates the kind of financial squeeze that can force real decisions across the roster.
A Towns deal that pushes more money into the later years could soften that hit.
If New York wants to get Towns to a total of $180 million over four years, there are a couple ways to do it. The Knicks could void the player option and start him lower, with standard raises putting him around $40.2 million in 2027-28.
A flat structure would land him at $45 million. They could also start him somewhere between those figures and have the salaries decline over time.
That would help in the short term and the long term. But if the Knicks are trying to preserve as much room as possible for Brunson’s next contract, there’s another version that may fit better.
Under that setup, Towns would pick up his $61 million option and then sign a three-year, $119 million extension. With standard raises and escalation, that would leave him at $36.4 million in 2028-29. That’s almost $7 million less than he’d count for if he declined the option and signed a four-year, $180 million deal.
In a roster situation this tight, $7 million is not a throwaway number. It could be the difference between keeping Landry Shamet or moving him just to get under the second apron. It could also make it more realistic for New York to hold together its starting five once Brunson’s next contract kicks in.
Whether Towns and the Knicks end up on that exact framework is still unclear. But the larger point is plain enough: this extension is not just about what Towns is worth. It’s about how New York wants to distribute the money it’s willing to pay him.
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