NEW YORK — Karl-Anthony Towns found out the New York Knicks were shutting down extension talks the same way everyone else did.
“It was news to me,” Towns told reporters after practice at the team’s Tarrytown, N.Y., training facility on Sunday. “Very disappointed to say the least. Let’s state the obvious. It’s business, but there is business on the court for us to handle.”
Towns maintained the focus is on helping the Knicks repeat as champions after ending a 53-year NBA title drought in New York City. It was his first public response since the Knicks announced Friday that they “will not be negotiating contract extensions until later in the season and will remain solely focused on preparing for the start of the season.” The freeze covers Towns, Josh Hart and Miles McBride.
Towns also said he hadn’t really thought about whether he would pick up or decline his player option for 2027-28 because he expected an extension would be done by now. The option is worth $61.1 million, and the Knicks center would have to decline it to be able to negotiate an extension during the season.
The Knicks have offered Towns a four-year contract extension worth $200 million. He is eligible for a four-year max extension worth more than $276 million and is willing to take well below his max to keep the team beneath the second apron, which owner James Dolan announced the organization will not cross to keep the championship core together.
How far beneath the max has been the sticking point: Towns made his frustration public Monday in Philadelphia when he said he and the team were not close to a deal. ESPN’s Bobby Marks said Friday that those comments irked team Dolan, and that scenarios keeping the Knicks under the second apron in 2027-28 had been presented within the last month. Towns posted “Always Love” with orange and blue hearts on X on Friday morning.
Head coach Mike Brown addressed the contract situation with the entire team before practice Sunday, Towns told reporters on Sunday. The All-Star big man said the coaches and players talked openly and called it a “mindful” practice. Towns added that he appreciated Brown talking about everyone being human.
“I got to give flowers to Mike,” Towns told reporters. “It was an amazing job by him.”
Towns made clear his focus is on trying to repeat and that he won’t let the contract situation affect him on the court. His teammates have taken a similar line. Hart, whose extension talks are also on hold, said Saturday that “everything will work out.” Jalen Brunson declined Saturday to say whether he would push ownership to get his teammates’ deals done.
“The people who say that [I should do that], I mean, I don’t, I don’t listen to that, any of that, ever,” Brunson said.
In a down season in Brown’s first year as Knicks coach, Towns averaged 20.1 points, 11.8 rebounds and three assists on 50.1% shooting from the field and 36.8% shooting from 3-point range. He averaged 15.9 points, 10.6 rebounds and a playoff career-high 4.9 assists on 55% shooting from the field and 45.6% shooting from 3-point range over the Knicks’ 2026 NBA Finals run.
The Knicks host the Minnesota Timberwolves, Towns’ former team, in a preseason game Monday at Madison Square Garden. Speaking on Hart’s extension status, Brunson said his teammates who are entering the season without deals done have to keep the focus on basketball:
“By doing just that. [Hart is] going to be a professional. And it’s not just him, everybody. Everyone’s going to be professional and continue to do their jobs,” he said. “I mean, no matter what the situation is, things are going to happen. There’s always going to be a roller coaster every season, ups and downs, emotionally or whatever. But no matter what, we’re out there on the court, we’re all going to have each other’s back, regardless of any situation. And we always have each other’s back.”
Good work
Brown said Saturday’s practice was a good one, and the coach explained what that means.
“If the passion is not there, the energy’s not there, the effort’s not there, then that’s what drives me crazy,” Brown said. “You know, because you can control your passion, you can control your energy and your effort. But sometimes you can’t control the turnover, or sometimes you may blow an assignment because you’re human, whether it’s offense or defense.”
He also liked what he saw from the end of the bench in Thursday’s loss to Washington, including Tyler Nickel and James Wiseman: “Those guys made a couple of mistakes, but man, they play hard. And I’m not just saying hard defensively, even offensively, like get to their spots in transition, moving the basketball, touching the paint.”
Mitch starts at center for Boston
Former Knick Mitchell Robinson started at center for the Celtics in Saturday’s 144-106 preseason win over Philadelphia. He finished with six points, five rebounds and an assist in 14 minutes. Robinson began his Celtics career with an early putback dunk and missed both free throws after being fouled to start the third quarter.