Karl-Anthony Towns on Knicks extension talks: ‘It don’t look good’

The Knicks won a championship with Karl-Anthony Towns. Getting him to sign an extension is proving harder.

“It don’t look good,” Towns said Monday when asked about reaching a deal before the regular season, via James L. Edwards III of The Athletic.

Towns said he’s willing to work with the team on a contract that helps keep the roster together. He wants that deal to value him, too. “None of those things have come close to happening,” he said.

There’s a considerable difference in the numbers being discussed. Towns is eligible for a four-year extension projected at about $276 million. The Knicks have offered roughly $200 million over four years, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. That reported offer would pay him less annually than the $57.1 million he’s due this season.

Towns didn’t sound eager to hear that a championship should be enough of a reward.

“No s—, Sherlock. I just won a championship,” he said when asked whether he expected a deal to be easier after New York’s title run.

Owner James Dolan has said he wants to avoid the second tax apron, and other Knicks will need new deals. Towns knows the financial puzzle. He also knows what he did to help end a 53-year title drought.

He has a $61 million player option for 2027-28, so this isn’t an immediate free-agency crisis. It is a fairly blunt start to the Knicks’ title defense.