Sources – Knicks are sending Randle and DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves for Towns

The New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves are finalizing a blockbuster deal between All-Stars Julius Randle and Karl-Anthony Towns, sources confirmed to ESPN on Friday night.

The deal, which has gained momentum in the last 24 hours, calls for Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to land in Minnesota and Towns to land in New York. The Knicks are expected to add a center in Towns to address their biggest weakness, while Minnesota relies on shooting prowess and versatility in its quest to advance to the Western Conference finals.

Minnesota also receives a top-13 protected 2025 first-round pick from New York via the Pistons.

Sources told ESPN that the Charlotte Hornets will be the third team in this deal and that they are expected to receive compensation for helping make the deal work financially.

Towns, who had just arrived in Minnesota for training camp, was focused on extending the Timberwolves West finals run, and this was a “totally unexpected” development, a source familiar with his thinking told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

Towns, who grew up a little less than an hour outside of New York City in central New Jersey, will immediately be inserted into New York's starting lineup as a center, filling a huge need for the Knicks – especially given the reign of incumbent center Mitchell Robinson earlier this week was ruled out for at least the first two months of the season due to offseason ankle surgery.

Towns, 28, is a four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection with career averages of 22.9 points and 10.8 rebounds while shooting 39.8% from 3-point range. Last season in Minnesota, Towns averaged 21.8 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 50% from the field and 41.6% from 3-point range. The No. 1 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft helped Minnesota reach the playoffs for the second time in the franchise's 35-year history and reach the West Final for the first time in 20 years (losing to Dallas in five games). .

Towns will now also reunite with current Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, under whom he played in Minnesota (2016-19).

Randle, who turns 30 in December, averaged 24.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 46 games for New York last season before suffering a dislocated right shoulder on Jan. 27 . After two months of rehab, he opted for season-ending surgery in April.

Randle signed with New York in 2019 and has played the best basketball of his career over the past four seasons with the Knicks, making three All-Star teams and two All-NBA teams and helping them reach the playoffs in three of them last four seasons – something the franchise has only managed one other time this century.

The 27-year-old DiVincenzo signed a four-year free agent contract with the Knicks last summer and went on to make a career-high 283 3-pointers. Sources told ESPN that Minnesota was high on DiVincenzo as a free agent after he played a season with the Golden State Warriors, and that his shots will be needed especially on a Wolves team that was already somewhat short on shots and has now lost Towns, one of the best shooting big men in the league.

The deal's completion means the Villanova Knicks – DiVincenzo, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges – will never play a single game together after New York made another big trade earlier this summer to acquire Bridges from their crosstown rivals, the Brooklyn Nets.

In that deal – the first trade between the two New York teams in 40 years – New York sent out four of its own unprotected future first-round picks, a future protected Milwaukee Bucks pick, a future first-round trade and a second-round pick. round pickaxe.

With Minnesota well into the second frontcourt and New York playing against the first frontcourt, a third team was needed to make the deal work. That's where Charlotte came into play, sources said, as the Hornets were able to use salary cap exceptions to get money from the Knicks to make the deal legal.

Completing the deal now resulted in the Hornets receiving draft capital on their waivers – which they otherwise could have kept until later in the season, sources said.

The Athletic first reported discussions about the deal.