The next time Karl-Anthony Towns will face his best mate of four years will be as an opponent. Minnesota has moved on from the ANT-KAT partnership in favor of Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Shams Charania dropped the shocking Knicks-Wolves trade bomb, effectively ending another experiment Minnesota had going – Towns and Gobert. On the other hand, with this move, James Dolan has pretty much put the team close to the second apron.

With the five-year $212.5 million deal with OG Anunoby, NYC was strapped for cash. And now with Towns’ addition, the Knicks will be $53.230 million over the cap. The first apron maximum is $178.132 million. The total allocations, however, now come to $188.006 million. And with KAT’s cap hit of $49.2o5 million, the Knicks are $9.874 million over the first apron, per Spotrac.

You might say now that they are still under the second apron. Technically, yes. The second apron max is $188.931 million, meaning they are $925,834 under. But here’s the catch – they are hard capped at the second apron. By no means can they go over the set limit. Any additional moves later in the season or if they find themselves in need of strengthening their roster for a playoff push (the worst-case scenario, that is), Dolan will have to face serious consequences.

Of course, going into that is like getting caught in a web, so let’s do that another day. That said, a move like this shouldn’t have been surprising, we suppose. The Knicks‘ success, even in Randle’s absence, had turned him into a highly potential trade candidate. In fact, Fred Katz of The Athletic had reported in late May that while New York did not want to go down that path, their desire to pair Brunson with another star might just be the push they need.

Clearly, that’s what happened. Pretty sure Tom Thibodeau couldn’t be happier.

Tom Thibodeau reunites with ‘gifted’ Karl-Anthony Towns

There is no doubt that you remember the rocky triangle of Towns, Jimmy Butler, and Thibodeau during their time in Minnesota. The demanding coach expected nothing but the very best. And while it produces equally great results, it can cause strain between the players and their coach. Something of a similar instance took place with Karl-Anthony Towns and the 66-year-old.

The whole thing reached its peak with the arrival of Jimmy Butler, a Thibodeau favorite from his Chicago days. And finally, the tension culminated in Jimmy forcing a trade, followed by Minnesota dismissing Tom in 2019. Despite it all, the 4x All-Star seems to have become a favorite of the no-nonsense coach given that he’s had a close eye on Towns.

Early October last year, Coach Thibodeau said, “Watching the progress he’s made throughout his career, he’s as gifted as they come.” Karl-Anthony Towns was in MSG for a preseason contest at the time. “When you look at an offensive player, particularly a big, the skill set that he has, I think we all saw, to win the 3-point contest and stuff like that, there’s nothing he can’t do offensively.”

“He has continued to get better I think. He had some injuries to deal with. I watched him play in FIBA, he played really well there. He’s really, really gifted,” the 2x COTY reiterated. Clearly, Thibodeau had been keeping a very close eye on Karl-Anthony Towns.

Now that he’s got this gifted player on his team, it would be interesting how the Knicks coach will make use of the 28-year-old.