[Katz] New York made contact with the Chicago about Zach LaVine but the asking price was “giant,” as one league source told | According to league sources who have talked business with them, the Wolves have set a sky-high price on KAT too. Knicks have not expressed any interest in trading for Towns

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But this is, however, why the Knicks have monitored the situation with Embiid in Philadelphia.

New York has played a balancing act ever since Leon Rose took over the front office in 2020. It has been built with the idea of trading for, not signing, a star, but it also hasn’t been trigger-happy. The Knicks went aggressively after Mitchell last summer, but clearly, they had a ceiling on what they were willing to offer. If they didn’t, Mitchell would be in his home state right now, not Ohio.

Other All-Stars have trickled in and out of the rumor mill over the years, including this summer. New York made contact with the Chicago Bulls about their shooting guard, Zach LaVine, but the asking price for the two-time All-Star was “giant,” as one league source told The Athletic, which is exactly why LaVine remains in Chicago. The Knicks and Bulls, according to league sources, never got close.

There are the Karl-Anthony Towns rumors that fling around, if only because they are easy. Towns is a CAA client and was once represented by Rose, himself, back when Rose ran CAA’s basketball division. We know the deal by now: the Knicks go after the CAA guys. They did it with Jalen Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein and Josh Hart and when they drafted Obi Toppin. They extended Julius Randle. They targeted Mitchell. So people project every CAA client onto them.

But it’s not like the Minnesota Timberwolves are trying to tear their team down. According to league sources who have talked business with them, the Wolves have set a sky-high price on Towns, too. And according to another league source, in spite of what the constant speculation may tell you, the Knicks have not expressed any interest in trading for Towns.

They are waiting. Patiently. For the right fit.