Picture it now. Karl-Anthony Towns declines his $61 million player option next summer to become an unrestricted free agent and doesn't want to re-sign with the Knicks. Instead, he takes his talents to the West Coast, specifically to the LA Clippers.
If you're having a hard time envisioning that, it's because it won't happen. Not the part about Towns leaving New York, but about going to Los Angeles.
The Clippers are slated to be one of the teams with cap space next summer to make a run at KAT if things reach a breaking point between him and the Knicks, but he won't even consider calling Intuit Dome home. Towns doesn't need to say anything for you to know that's true.
If he and the Knicks fail to reach an extension agreement by June 30 (it doesn't sound like they will before the season starts), he'll likely want to go somewhere he can compete for another championship. The Clippers won't be that team. If it makes you feel better, that probably still would've been the case even if the front office never circumvented the salary cap for Kawhi Leonard and he decided to sign an extension to stay in LA.
The Clippers won't be on Karl-Anthony Towns' radar
Los Angeles has a better chance of luring Jalen Duren to sign with the team if he plays out the season on his $9.6 million qualifying offer. Since he's interested in playing for the Kings, you have to think the Clippers at least have a shot, but that could even be a stretch.
Duren is coming off the best season of his young career, and while Towns isn't coming off his best season statistically, he played a pivotal role in helping the Knicks win their first title in 53 years. He's no longer facing doubts about his ability to contribute to winning basketball, or even doubts that he'll never be an adequate defender. He squashed those, along with many others, this past season.
Landing him would feel like a massive win for the Clippers, but it wouldn't make any sense for either side. He'll turn 31 in November, and with LA losing five first-round picks, it needs to invest in younger players (like 22-year-old Duren). Towns would help sell tickets, but his talents would be wasted on a bottom-dweller trying to pull itself out of a mess and create a future that's worth looking forward to for a change.
Towns doesn't need to be part of that, and he wouldn't want to be, anyway. That's not a bad thing.
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