Losing Karl-Anthony Towns Would Break The Knicks + The Raptors Threat
September 14, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readThe 2025 Knicks won a championship that looked charmed—down 2-1 to Atlanta, then a furious heater, a Sixers team that was the walking dead, a Cavs series where Sam Merrill and Landry Shamet suddenly couldn't miss, and a Finals run that produced the greatest net rating in NBA playoff history. But Gavin Shaw, host of Locked On Knicks, pushes back hard on the idea that this was simply magic or luck. "There's nothing fluky about them winning," he says. The margins were closer to representative of the truth than some once-in-a-lifetime lunacy. Still, the Eastern Conference is now deeper and healthier, and the Knicks benefited immensely from rest advantages in every series last year—advantages that won't be there this time. The core is real, but the path is much harder.
The Mitchell Robinson Loss and What It Costs
The Knicks lost Mitchell Robinson to the Celtics this offseason, a decision Shaw believes was driven by owner James Dolan's reluctance to enter the second apron rather than a basketball judgment from president Leon Rose. Robinson was replaced by Andre Drummond, and Shaw is blunt about the downgrade: "His vertical gravity is like the biggest thing that Andre Drummond just doesn't come close to replicating." Drummond has been an inexplicably awful finisher around the basket for his entire career.
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What you'll learn
- 1 Timestamped Navigation Outline
- 2 (01:54) **KAT's Irreplaceability** - Why losing Karl-Anthony Towns would be catastrophic for the Knicks' championship window
- 3 (03:58) **Last Season's Championship: Real or Fluky?** - Breaking down whether the Knicks' title run was sustainable magic or legitimate dominance
- 4 (07:32) **Mitchell Robinson Departure: How Big a Downgrade?** - Assessing the gap between Robinson and replacement Andre Drummond
- 5 (09:23) **The James Dolan Factor** - Reporting that the owner, not the front office, drove the decision not to re-sign Robinson
- 6 (11:56) **The Backup Center Crisis** - Why the Knicks must find a center better than Drummond during the season
- 7 (15:38) **KAT's Contract Future** - Whether this season will determine Towns' long-term future with the Knicks
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
The New York Knicks face tough questions as they pursue a repeat NBA title run—can Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson keep them atop the East despite major roster shakeups? Gavin Schall and Sean Woodley debate the impact of Mitchell Robinson’s departure, Andre Drummond’s arrival, and the financial pressures threatening to break up the Knicks’ championship core. With Karl-Anthony Towns’ contract negotiations looming, is New York prepared to let a franchise cornerstone walk?
Key topics include strategic mismatches against the Toronto Raptors, the value of elite rim protection, and how rising Eastern Conference powerhouses threaten the Knicks’ title path. The discussion spotlights OG Anunoby’s critical role, the tactical chess match between Tom Thibodeau and Raptors’ stretch lineups, and whether the Knicks have enough depth to survive playoff adversity. Can New York’s championship DNA carry them through unprecedented NBA parity?
Photo Credit: David Dermer-Imagn Images
00:00 Knicks talent and coaching dynamics
03:33 Assessing NBA playoff surprises
09:15 Knicks' offensive strategies and challenges
13:30 Karl-Anthony Towns' Knicks future
16:43 Knicks' center rotation strategy
18:29 Knicks fans and KAT's value
21:54 Toronto's playoff versatility with Kawhi
25:18 Raptors defensive challenges against Knicks
30:53 Collin Murray-Boyle's impact this season
32:28 Discussing NBA lineup strategies
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