How the Knicks’ Creativity With the Mikal Bridges Trade Made the Karl-Anthony Towns Deal Possible

The New York Knicks have been by far the most active team on the trade market this offseason, at least in the blockbuster department. Not only did they trade for Karl-Anthony Towns last Friday, they also gave up a plethora of first-round picks to land Mikal Bridges . They feel like there’s a great opportunity for them to compete for a championship, and there’s no doubt they’re trying.

Building a roster with a ton of top-tier talent like the Knicks has requires careful planning and some much-needed foresight. Knicks management opened the door to a Towns trade by prioritizing flexibility following the deal they struck with the Brooklyn Nets for Bridges.

As Spotrac cap expert Keith Smith wrote, the Knicks decided to send more money to the Nets in salary than they received in return. This prevented them from being hard-cap-bound at the first luxury apron. They couldn’t have traded Towns using the package they gave the Minnesota Timberwolves if they’d been hard-capped on the first apron.

A trade for Towns would have required the Knicks to give up more assets if they’d been hard-capped on the first apron. But with the flexibility they retained by including Shake Milton (via sign-and-trade) in the Bridges deal, they were able to use some cap technicalities to match Towns’ $49.2 million salary for the 2024-25 season, although that did require the inclusion of a third team to make the deal work.

It might be a basic course in salary-cap management to do what the Knicks did; given their need for a center amid their lack of depth at the position and Mitchell Robinson’s injury, allowing themselves to go beyond the first tax apron was a minimum requirement. But considering how poorly managed the Knicks have been for much of the 21st century, this level of awareness is refreshing, especially when it proved to be the difference when it came to acquiring a four-time All-Star who is still in the midst of his prime.