The Celtics enter the season as heavy favorites to repeat as Eastern Conference and NBA champions but their road to that goal just got a little bit more complicated on Friday. The Knicks landed their second major upgrade of the offseason just ahead of training camp, trading for Wolves All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns by sending Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota in a three-team swap with the Hornets.
The ramifications of the deal are wide-ranging for a pair of contenders in both conferences. However, there is a sharp impact for Boston in the short term and long term as a division rival reshapes their roster. Let’s examine some of the bigger angles of this deal through a Celtics lens.
Knicks drain their resource pool on Towns: The Celtics always have to be thinking about how they match up against their competition and it’s evident that New York is pushing all of their chips to the middle with the addition of Towns. The team already drained a number of their future draft resources with the Mikal Bridges trade back in July. Moving Randle’s out the door now for Towns is the final meaningful trade chip across the Knicks roster that isn’t part of the core. The front office has now committed to this core for the foreseeable future with $200 million committed to their top seven players for next season. That payroll will become steeper in the summer of 2026 when Bridges is due for a massive extension.
The Knicks do have a formidable top seven now (Towns, Brunson, Bridges, Hart, Anunoby, McBride, Robinson) but their depth on the wing took a major hit with this deal. With the team’s draft assets depleted, they will need to hope this group is good enough to take down Boston, otherwise they don’t have any other means to improve this group without dismantling parts of it.
Celtics have another weak link to attack defensively: Jalen Brunson has always been the most vulnerable defender in the Knicks’ starting five due to his lack of size. The addition of Towns changes that equation though. The big man has always struggled on the perimeter defensively and that’s a recipe for disaster against a Celtics lineup that regularly plays five elite 3-point shooters in meaningful moments. It’s unclear how much longer Al Horford or Kristaps Porzingis will be in Boston beyond this year but as long as they are around, Towns will be another body for Joe Mazzulla to pick on despite the Knicks having other elite defenses on the wing
Boston’s defense will be tested against this group: Losing an elite 3-point shooter in DiVincenzo certainly hurts the Knicks but Towns is definitely a massive upgrade from the perimeter over Randle. A pick-and-roll combination with him and Brunson could be a bit of a nightmare for defenses to defend, including Boston if Towns can punish switches in the post. With a number of good secondary options (Anunoby, Bridges, Hart) around them, the Knicks look like a team that has the firepower to bend the Celtics defensively on certain nights, particularly when they are shorthanded in the front court. Towns and Robinson (when healthy) have the ability to punish Boston mightily on the glass as well.
Final Thoughts
The pressure is amped up a little bit now on the Celtics with this move, particularly in the regular season if the Knicks can mesh well out of the gate. However, there is still a gap from a talent standpoint here that the Celtics can take advantage of. With Boston having an extra year of continuity to lean back on with this group, Brad Stevens can still feel good about how this group matches up with East’s other top contender.
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