{"id":915456,"date":"2026-09-30T15:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T15:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/915456\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T15:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T15:22:13","slug":"karl-anthony-towns-contract-knicks-not-being-flexible-with-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/915456\/","title":{"rendered":"Karl-Anthony Towns contract: Knicks not being flexible with star"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Karl-Anthony\t\t\t<\/p>\n

New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates after the Knicks defeat the San Antonio Spurs during game five of the 2026 NBA Finals at Frost Bank Center. Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Karl-Anthony Towns is trying to work with the Knicks on hammering out a contract extension. The problem is that the defending NBA champs don\u2019t seem as willing.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Malika Andrews reported on Wednesday that the All-Star big man is willing to take a pay cut, but the Knicks\u2019 offer has been deemed \u201cunreasonable,\u201d which certainly creates a bit of awkwardness heading into the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n

Towns is eligible for a four-year, $276 million max extension, but Knicks president Leon Rose has been given the edict by owner James Dolan not to blow past the second apron.\n<\/p>\n

Given how far apart the two parties are in negotiations, it seems highly unlikely that a deal will be worked out before the season opener on Oct. 20<\/a>. In most cases, players will put contract negotiations on hold during the season in an attempt to solely focus on basketball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, the distraction exists, and Towns struggled with a similar one last year when he was the subject of constant trade rumors.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI made it known I want to play here. I\u2019ve been a fan since I was young. I would like to get one done, of course,\u201d Towns said. \u201cObviously, I would like to get it done so I can feel as comfortable as possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He can become a free agent following this season should he decline the $61 million player option on his current contract.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Towns\u2019 willingness to take a pay cut is a significant showing of good faith toward the Knicks organization, even if the other side of such a decision carries its fair share of uncertainties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Superstar guard and Finals MVP Jalen Brunson famously took a $113 million pay cut to ensure a championship contender could be built around him. He fully expects to be compensated when he is eligible for an extension next summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more on Karl-Anthony Towns and the Knicks, visit AMNY.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates after the Knicks defeat the San Antonio Spurs during game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":915457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,17593,14735,459,82],"class_list":["post-915456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-knicks","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/915457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}