Joe Johnson goes off on the Knicks' lowball contract offer to Karl-Anthony Towns

1 day ago 6

Before the start of the 2026-27 NBA season, the New York Knicks' saga with Karl-Anthony Towns has continued to heat up. It is unfortunate because Towns was one of the most important players in their 2026 championship run.

He wants a contract that fits his contributions to the Knicks, while the organization wants to stick to their valuation because they don't want to mess up their finances, especially when it comes to not clearing the second apron and the problems that it brings up.

Joe Johnson is unhappy with how the Knicks are handling Karl-Anthony Towns' contract

The Knicks are coming off a championship, so the logical move is to stick with the core that won that title. However, they are finding it hard because of the money they have to spend.

Reportedly, the Knicks are offering Towns around $200 million, which is quite far from the max contract, which is around $77 million more than that figure. It is not a good look for the Knicks because it appears like a lowball offer from an outsider's perspective.

MORE: The Knicks do not want to go over this one threshold for Karl-Anthony Towns' contract

While Towns is willing to take a pay cut, that might be too high of a number. Everyone knows that Jalen Brunson took a significant pay cut to help the Knicks, but at some point, players would want to earn the most money possible, especially if they contributed to a championship run.

This has led to a lot of people throwing some shade the Knicks' way. This includes former multi-time All-Star Joe Johnson, who has expressed his frustration at the Knicks for this issue.

"Jalen Duren just signed for $200 million, man. Come on, man, I'm not signing no damn 200. I ain't got to break the bank at 276, but meet me at 240, 250... He done the ultimate! The man won a title! Hell, them first two games in the Finals, bro, he was your best player on the floor! We were talking about KAT winning the MVP," Johnson said on Nightcap about the Knicks' offer to Towns.

Towns deserves a max contract, but if they are not going to give him that, Johnson argues that they should give him a bigger deal than that. It looks like a disrespectful offer for some people, and Towns will be validated if he feels frustrated by how the negotiations are going.