Could the Knicks' NBA Finals Run Actually Push Anthony Edwards Out of Minnesota?
The Atlanta Hawks took the New York Knicks to six games before the Knicks swept Philadelphia and Cleveland on their way to the NBA Finals.
Now New York holds a 2-0 lead over the San Antonio Spurs after back-to-back wins in San Antonio, including a gut-punch 105-104 thriller in Game 2 on Friday night, and sit just two wins away from their first NBA title in more than 50 years.
Karl-Anthony Towns has delivered through it all.
KAT has been an All-Star in both of his seasons in New York, and he’s been a force in these Finals, putting up 18 points and 12 rebounds in Game 1, then 21 and 13 in Game 2, shooting 55.6% from the floor in the series and 42.9% from deep.
Game 3 tips off Monday night at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks are heavy favorites.
Yet, while everybody’s attention should be on New York, it appears that pressure could be mounting for another NBA franchise, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
On Friday, June 5, just hours ahead of Game 2, ESPN”s Brian Windhorst. suggested that T-Wolves star Anthony Edwards may be influenced by watching KAT compete for a title after being traded to the Knicks.
"Going forward after this series, the Minnesota Timberwolves' future is in question somewhat because of what Ant feels about the roster, and I wonder if KAT was still there, if he did," Windhorst said.
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The Towns trade was a three-team deal that sent him to New York in exchange for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a first-round pick.
At the time, Minnesota spun it as a necessary salary cap move. With massive contracts for Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid, Towns was the odd man out under the league’s new second-apron rules.
However, Minnesota got back DiVincenzo, who missed most of the postseason due to a ruptured Achilles, and Randle, who wasn’t great in the playoffs, while KAT is two games away from hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Making matters worse, the Wolves were bounced in the second round by the very same Spurs team that has struggled to contain Towns through the first two games of the Finals.
Edwards put together a career-best regular season at 28.8 points per game on 48.9% from the field and 39.9% from deep, but played only 61 games after suffering a knee injury.
In the playoffs, his numbers dropped to just 21.6 points on 42.8% shooting from the floor and 31.7% from beyond the arc.
So what does this mean for Ant’s future? According to Windhorst, Edwards has been pressuring the front office to upgrade the roster, and Minnesota is expected to be aggressive in pursuit of a new co-star this summer.
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The Wolves trading Edwards feels next to impossible for now. Franchise players of his caliber rarely become available, and Minnesota would almost certainly exhaust every option before considering such a scenario.
But NBA history is also littered with “never gonna happen” situations that happened anyway, and the pattern is always the same: a star watches a former teammate win a ring elsewhere, the front office fails to respond fast enough, and the star’s patience runs dry.
With Edwards being an Atlanta, Georgia, native, the Hawks have been identified as a team worth monitoring if the situation ever escalates.
Other large-market contenders with cap flexibility will inevitably get mentioned if the speculation continues to grow.
The reality right now is that Edwards is 24 years old, entering his prime, and watching his old running mate play for a championship in the world’s biggest market.
If the Knicks win the title and Towns is the reason for it, it will be hard to blame Edwards if he’s ready to move on entirely.
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This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 7:33 PM.