{"id":365564,"date":"2026-10-06T06:06:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/365564\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T06:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:06:25","slug":"karl-anthony-towns-fumes-with-grim-update-on-knicks-contract-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/365564\/","title":{"rendered":"Karl-Anthony Towns fumes with grim update on Knicks contract talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Karl-Anthony Towns dialed up the pressure on the Knicks before Monday\u2019s preseason opener, outlining the wide gap in his contract negotiations<\/a> while taking his frustration public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo s-\u200a-t, Sherlock,\u201d Towns said when asked if he thinks he should be rewarded after the franchise\u2019s first title in 53 years. \u201cI just won a championship. You\u2019d think it was pretty easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless you guys [reporters] think I have something else to prove.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to league sources, the Knicks are offering Towns four years and roughly $200 million \u2014 which is $77 million less than his max. Towns has said he\u2019d accept a discount, but clearly feels disrespected by the offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply put: I want to do something to keep the team together and can work with the Knicks and also values me,\u201d Towns said. \u201cAnd none of those things are close to happening.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Towns and the Knicks can agree to an extension up until June<\/a>, but the chances diminish once the regular-season starts and he\u2019s losing hope for an agreement before then.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt don\u2019t look good,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That means the potential for contentiousness will bleed into meaningful games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJust let it go where it goes,\u201d Towns said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) during practice at the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Greenburgh, N.Y., Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

The Knicks are trying to navigate James Dolan\u2019s mandate<\/a> to remain under the second apron, a task used to justify the lower offer to Towns. The sides have gained no traction since Towns became eligible for an extension in August, leading to the 30-year-old announcing on media day, \u201cI think in this situation, there\u2019s no comfortability to be had.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Knicks are facing a strain on their books. Towns, Josh Hart and Miles McBride are all eligible for extensions now. None seem close to an agreement. Jalen Brunson becomes eligible next year and he is due for a big pay raise after accepting his team-friendly contract during the last negotiation. Brunson\u2019s max will be roughly four years, $257 million \u2014and would begin during the 2028-29 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the portrayal of a lowball offer for Towns, there are legitimate reasons for hesitancy. For much of last season, his contract was considered, at best, even value. He was discussed in trade scenarios involving Giannis Antetokounmpo and was so concerned about a relocation that he told The Athletic, \u201cWe were on Zillow in Milwaukee.\u201d Before that, the Timberwolves traded Towns because, among other reasons, they were trying to shed his salary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But then Towns took off in the playoffs as the offensive hub while playing stout defense. The Knicks steamrolled through the playoffs and Towns thought the next step would be \u201cpretty easy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Towns\u2019 leverage is his $61 million player option for the 2027-28 season, plus the threat of leaving for a bigger deal if he declines the option and hits free agency this summer. Several teams \u2014 including the Bulls, Clippers, Nets, Pistons, Kings and Warriors \u2014 are expected to have enough cap space to offer Towns a max deal if he hits the market in July.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

According to Spotrac.com, Towns has earned over $285 million in salary for his career. That\u2019s tops on the Knicks \u2014 more than double Brunson ($121 million) and OG Anunoby ($138 million).\u00a0<\/p>\n

He averaged 20.1 points last season with 11.9 rebounds while earning his third consecutive All-Star appearance. He said Monday that he expects an easier adjustment to coach Mike Brown\u2019s style after some bumpy moments last season \u2014 for himself and the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we won the championship and played a lot of basketball. So we were very comfortable and we understand what he wants to do and the new system he was bringing it over,\u201d Towns said. \u201cSo I would say for our camp year, it\u2019s been a lot more of just re-emphasizing and tweaking and being ahead of the curve so we won\u2019t have to re-learn his offense. We\u2019ll just know it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just who we are, it\u2019s in our DNA. So starting off in a much better place than I thought last year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Karl-Anthony Towns dialed up the pressure on the Knicks before Monday\u2019s preseason opener, outlining the wide…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1555,21,9,11,1104,10,319],"class_list":["post-365564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-new-york-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}