Why won't Karl-Anthony Towns be present for New York Knicks media day? Understanding reasons behind marquee trade addition’s absence 

The New York Knicks will have their media day on Monday to prepare for the 2024-25 NBA season. However, their new star, Karl-Anthony Towns, won't be with the team. Towns was part of the trade that sent All-Star forward Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, the trade between the Wolves and Knicks is still in the process of completion. The deal is expected to be completed early this week, which means the players involved won't be available for their teams' media days.

The Knicks will hold their media day at the team's practice facility on Monday at 11 a.m. ET. The Wolves, on the other hand, will have theirs at Target Center at 1:30 p.m. ET.

On Friday, Shams Charania of The Athletic confirmed that the Knicks traded Randle, DiVincenzo and a protected first-round pick (via Detroit) for KAT. The deal involved a third team, the Charlotte Hornets, who received DaQuan Jeffries from New York.

Towns is expected to take over the center position for the Knickerbockers after spending two seasons playing power forward for the Wolves.

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Karl-Anthony Towns never requested for a trade from the Wolves

After nine seasons with the Wolves, Karl-Anthony Towns was traded to the East Coast. The top pick back in 2015 was the focus of the franchise. With the team, Towns emerged as a star, making the All-Star team four times. He also became a two-time All-NBA player.

After all his work with the team that drafted him, KAT was surprised when he found out about the trade. According to The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski, the star big man never requested a trade. However, it seems like the franchise is placing its focus on Anthony Edwards as the franchise star moving forward.

During his time with the team, he put up 22.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. He also emerged as one of the best shooting bigs, knocking down 39.8% of his shots from beyond the arc.

His best statistical season was in 2019-20, putting up 26.5 ppg, 10.8 rpg and 4.4 apg.

KAT was patient with the Wolves as they worked to break their 13-year playoff drought, which they did in 2018. Most of his time in Minnesota was focused on building a promising team to bring the team back to postseason action. Minnesota has reached the playoffs in each of the past three seasons. The Wolves reached the Western Conference finals last season, doing so for the first time since 2004.