The Knicks are moving on but already thinking about a trade for KAT, Coach Bud may be done in Milwaukee and James Harden is involved in a casino “dispute.”
The Knicks players and coaching staff are focused on their second-round series with the Miami Heat and how they can turn the opportunity in front of them into a surprise championship run. But the front office may already be laying the groundwork for a big offseason of upgrades to ensure that this year’s postseason success doesn’t become a one-off.
NBA rumors: Knicks could make a trade push for Karl-Anthony Towns this offseason
Sean Deveney of Heavy.com is reporting, through a secondhand source, the Knicks may make a push to trade for Karl-Anthony Towns this summer. According to his source, “The interest in making that happen would be mutual, for sure. KAT and the Knicks are intertwined. To some people, it is more a matter of when they go after him, not if.”
Towns is coming off a disappointing first-round loss and a tough season that saw Minnesota’s championship aspirations after adding Rudy Gobert quickly come apart at the seams. KAT isn’t necessarily the Timberwolves’ biggest problem but he doesn’t seem to be the solution either, and if they’re going to make a trade to blow things up he will be a lot easier to move than Gobert.
It remains to be seen how much of their future the Knicks would want to include in a deal, because the Timberwolves aren’t likely to be all that interested in Julius Randle or Evan Fournier. But the contracts are there to match and the Knicks have some extra picks to help grease the wheels.
NBA rumors: Bucks could be preparing to move on from Mike Budenholzer
According to, well, everyone with eyeballs, Mike Budenholzer maybe have coached his last game with the Milwaukee Bucks. It wasn’t just getting upset by a No. 8 seed, or a season full of rumors about his players being frustrated with his style and execution. The specific ways in which the season ended — not calling a timeout and catastrophic late-game execution again and again — were pretty big red flags.
Shams Charania has reported that Budenholzer’s status is “shaky” and Zach Lowe said, “There’s some losses for which there’s just no going back. You cannot come back to the same team, and the Bucks cannot come back the same team from this.”
Budenholzer amassed a .693 winning percentage in five seasons with Milwaukee and helped lead them to a title in 2021. But they finished with the best record in the entire NBA in three of those five seasons and made just one Finals appearance. You can’t win them all, and he did win a ring, but he also presided over several embarrassing playoff disappointments.
If Budenholzer is indeed fired, there are several intriguing candidates who could be available including Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel, Kenny Atkinson and more.
NBA rumors: James Harden involved in Las Vegas casino ‘dispute’ earlier this week
After sweeping the Nets and with the Hawks pushing the Celtics to six games, the Philadelphia 76ers have had a lot of time to rest. That’s been especially important for Joel Embiid, who it turns out is working through an LCL sprain and may not be available for the beginning of the second round. James Harden, though, has been using his time off to get himself into a sticky situation in Las Vegas.
TMZ Sports has shared a video that shows Harden lightly slapping and pushing a man while arguing outside a Las Vegas casino in the early morning hours, Monday, April 24. The argument did not get physical beyond that and the police were reportedly not called. According to TMZ’s source, the man Harden was arguing with was a member of his party which could explain why things didn’t escalate.
The 76ers will have had more than a full week off between knocking off the Nets in Game 4 on April 22 and opening the second round against the Celtics on Monday, May 1. Harden is a grown man who can do whatever he wants and there is plenty of time for some late-night celebrating and still recovering in time for Game 1. But, for the 76ers’ sake, let’s hope he really is ready for the Celtics.
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