Since early last season, there has been conjecture that the Minnesota Timberwolves could trade Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks.

Reasons: Towns is from New Jersey. Knicks president Leon Rose used to be his agent. Gersson Rosas, who was the Wolves’ top basketball executive, now works for the Knicks. Towns will make $49.3 million next season and, get this, $62.1 million for the 2027-28 season, when he’ll be 32 years old.

The Wolves’ luxury tax this year is expected to be at least $25 million. The Wolves have a younger, much less expensive replacement in fan-favorite Naz Reid. The Wolves gave up four future first-round draft picks for Rudy Gobert in 2022 and have none until 2028, when they have just one.

Until Thursday, the Knicks had eight first-round draft picks. That was, however, until they traded five of those picks to the Nets for Mikal Bridges. Also last week, they signed forward Ogugua Anunoby to a $212.5 million, five-year contract.

Bottom line: Towns isn’t going to the Knicks after all, at least not for draft picks.

>> Look for negotiations to begin Monday for a $64 million, eight-year guaranteed contract for Wild defenseman Brock Faber, 21, the former Gopher who last week finished second in Calder Memorial Trophy (NHL rookie of the year) voting.

For finishing second in voting, Faber, from Maple Grove, gets a $150,000 bonus from the NHL that doesn’t count against the Wild’s salary cap.

>> Zeev Buium, the Denver U defenseman the Wild took at No. 12 in the first-round of Friday’s NHL draft, was the No. 4-ranked prospect by The Hockey News.

>> Among five NFL first-round draft picks who haven’t signed yet, two — J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner — are from the Vikings. Still unsigned is No. 1 overall pick, QB Caleb Williams of the Bears.

The draft’s No. 8 overall pick, QB Michael Penix, taken two spots ahead of McCarthy, last week signed a $22.8 million, four-year deal with the Falcons. He’ll get a $13.5 million signing bonus. It’ll be interesting whether he gets his bonus up front or in deferred payments.

>> Cam Christie, drafted No. 46 overall on Thursday by the Clippers, joins another ex-Gophers guard, Amir Coffey, signed for $3.94 million next season with the Clippers. Christie, who doesn’t turn 19 for three more weeks, can expect a two-way contract in the $600,000 range per year.

>> St. Paul’s Sean Sweeney, the top Dallas Mavericks assistant, remains a serious prospect for the Detroit Pistons’ head coaching job.

>> It was Nashville coach Andrew Brunette who was able to get ex-Wild teammate and assistant coach Darby Hendrickson to sign the other day with the Predators.

>> Texas A&M-bound left-hander Max Arlich from East Ridge is believed to be the only pitcher to throw two consecutive Class 4A state championship complete-game victories while allowing no earned runs.

>> On Monday in Boston, Cretin-Derham grad Joe Mauer will be inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame. On July 21, Mauer will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

On the evening of July 20, the Pohlad family, which owns the Twins, will host a party for Joe, his family, former teammates and club officials at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown. A program will feature Twins Hall of Famers, including Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield, Jack Morris, Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Jim Thome and David Ortiz.

Among former front office officials attending will be Terry Ryan, Billy Smith, Jim Rantz and manager Ron Gardenhire. Nearly two dozen former teammates will be in Cooperstown to honor Mauer, including Justin Morneau and Glen Perkins.

>> Mauer, at 41, is the youngest living Baseball Hall of Fame member. Willie Mays, until his recent passing, was the oldest at 93. Now it’s Luis Aparicio at 90. Hall of Fame former Twins Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat are 85.

>> Speaking of Mays, with assistance from local baseball historian/Twins official scorer Stew Thornley of Roseville, we learn that the baseball icon, then 20 years old, rented a room in May of 1951 at 3616 4th Ave. near the Hosmer Library in Minneapolis, about 10 blocks from Nicollet Park, where he played for 16 days with the Giants’ Triple-A Millers.

“I’ve gone by there — the house is in good shape,” Thornley said. “I’m guessing that Willie walked to the ballpark.”

Thornley, 68, who has authored more than 40 books on sports, has visited gravesites of some 230 Baseball Hall of Famers. It’s an avocation. On a trip to Kansas City last week, he was to add the gravesite of Bob Gibson, who is buried in Omaha, Neb. Thornley intends to visit Mays’ resting place.

>> Some clubhouse attendants at Wayzata Country Club still recall Mays playing golf at the suburban Minneapolis course years ago as a guest of Calvin Griffith, then the Twins’ owner, and the oversized grips on his clubs because of his large hands.

>> Late Twins Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, who died in 2011, would have turned 88 on Saturday. Hall of Fame late Minneapolis Laker George Mikan, who died in 2005, would have turned 100 this month.

>> Former Gophers 1960 Rose Bowl champion lineman Greg Larson from Minneapolis Roosevelt died at 84 last week in Plymouth.

>> Passing at age 90 recently was beloved basketball coach and Timberwolves consultant Ed Prohofsky.

>> It was unlikely, but had he made the cut in the Rocket Mortgage PGA Tour tournament this weekend in Detroit, there was a chance that 15-year-old golfer Miles Russell from Jacksonville, Fla., would have been invited to the 3M Open on July 25-28 at the TPC in Blaine. The left-handed Russell, 5-feet-7, 135 pounds, finished even-par for two rounds in Detroit and missed the cut by four shots.

>> New boys basketball coach at Belle Plaine will be Brady Wohler, son of legendary Barry Wohler, the Orono boys coach. Barry, who starred at Bird Island-Lake Lillian, remains one of only three Minnesotans ever offered Division I college scholarships in three sports. The others are Mauer and Dave Winfield.

>> Earning an NBA championship ring is Boston assistant GM Dave Lewin, a 2009 Macalester College grad. Lewin, who studied economics, mathematics and statistics at Macalester, is a former director of player personnel for the Celtics.

>> The Kansas City Chiefs held their latest Super Bowl ring ceremony the other day. The rings, worth $40,000 apiece and produced by Minneapolis-based Jostens, have 529 diamonds. Former Gophers captain Ray Hitchcock’s 1988 Washington Redskins Super Bowl ring, produced by Tiffany and Co., has 140 diamonds.

>> Many of the state’s top underclass boys basketball players were on display for Division I coaches last weekend at a scouting showcase at Hopkins High. Coaches included the Gophers’ Ben Johnson, Iowa’s Fran McCaffery, Kyle Green from Iowa State and Ben Jacobson from Northern Iowa. What was eye-popping was the accuracy of long-range shooting.

>> Four incoming freshmen — Ryan Lafferty from Spokane, Nolan Minessale from Milwaukee, Tim Franks from Homestead, Wis., and Kyle Counts, a grandson of ex-Boston Celtic Mel Counts, from Wilsonville, Ore. — have begun workouts at the University of St. Thomas, which last season won 20 games and is headed into a new arena in the fall of 2025.

>> Frankie Capan’s tie for 41st place in the recent U.S. Open golf championship was worth $72,305 for the North Oaks native, the same as Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth received. Winner Bryson DeChambeau’s check was for $4.3 million.

There’s still a chance that Capan could be back in the 3M next month.

>> After 14 years, proficient Gophers’ athletic department money raiser Randy Handel retires on Tuesday.

>> After a 29-goal, 40-assist and team MVP season for the San Jose Sharks’ East Coast Hockey League Thunder, former Johnson High all-stater Jay Dickman, 31, has been named the Wichita (Kan.) Professional Athlete of the Year.

>> Kyle Okposo winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers should mean a day with the storied trophy this summer in hometown Woodbury.

>> St. Paul’s Suni Lee gets a nine-page spread in this week’s Sports Illustrated.

>> Ex-Rochester Lourdes hockey star Maggie Hanzel, daughter of former Notre Dame and Cretin hockey captain Matt Hanzel, has been named assistant captain of the Boston University women’s team. Her father is an attorney for Mayo Clinic. BU will play the Gophers in Minneapolis on Oct. 4-6.

Don’t print that

>> In order to move up from No. 23 to No. 17 in the first round of April’s draft to take pass rusher Dallas Turner, and to move up from No. 11 to No. 10 to take QB J.J. McCarthy, the Vikings had to trade Nos. 11, 23, 129, 157 and 167 picks this year, plus third- and fourth-round picks in 2025. Clearly, the team’s front office feels urgency for contract extensions next year.

If McCarthy and Turner turn out to be productive, it would mean extensions. If not, major front office changes would be expected in 2025.

>> The way it looks now, the Vikings are headed for a 7-10 or so record next season, the same as last season.

>> The issue with Sam Darnold, 27, who, as expected, was named the Vikings’ starting QB, isn’t a strong arm or physical skills. It’s interceptions — he’s thrown 56 during his six-year career. Next season, by the way, will be his last shot at being a starter.

>> If running back Cam Akers, recovering from Achilles surgery last November, passes an upcoming physical, look for the free agent to re-sign with the Vikings.

>> That was McCarthy dining on chicken wings at Kyndred Hearth in Eagan the other day.

>> Among purchases for Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson, after inking a new $66 million, four-year deal that includes an $18 million signing bonus, is a new house in Sunfish Lake.

>> With the weighty addition of Michael Bloomberg, the Alex Rodriguez-Marc Lore, Timberwolves-Lynx investor tandem, if it were to win an upcoming sale arbitration, would be expected to buy out owner Glen Taylor’s then-remaining 20 percent at an escalated price. That, however, would be predicated on approval of a sale by the NBA. That’s certainly not a given.

Bloomberg, 82, is not only a very wealthy guy ($107 billion per Forbes), but a very powerful guy. So is multi-billionaire Taylor, who had two terms as chairman of the NBA.

It seems unlikely that Bloomberg would have joined Rodriguez-Lore if he thought the pair would lose in arbitration. Bloomberg’s minority investment is believed to be 10 percent of the $1.5 billion price tag. Either directly or indirectly, it’s not a bad guess that Bloomberg has had business dealings and relationships with some current NBA owners.

At this juncture, there would seem no chance of a Rodriguez-Lore-Bloomberg group ultimately joining Taylor in ownership. If RLB were to win the case and get league approval, it would have to buy Taylor out completely. If Taylor wins, he would have to buy RLB out completely. The two groups together would be a bad mix.

Meanwhile, an informed source close to Taylor is confident he’ll remain the Wolves-Lynx owner. A delay in the arbitration date could mean allowing more time for a resolution.

>> Bloomberg, by the way, would not be the wealthiest NBA investor. Steve Ballmer, owner of the LA Clippers, is worth $131 billion, per Forbes.

>> It’s not a matter of if, but when the Twins will erect a statue of Joe Mauer at Target Field.

>> Since John Anderson’s recent retirement as Gophers baseball coach, eight players, including second baseman Brady Counsell, son of Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell, have entered the NCAA transfer portal. Counsell is leaving for Kansas. Another Gopher, outfielder Easton Fritcher, is headed to the University of St. Thomas.

Also, five Tommies from the Summit League champions already have entered the transfer portal.

Amazingly, for baseball there are 2,228 college players in the transfer portal.

>> Twins TV: It’s status quo for the Comcast-Diamond Sports Group dilemma, meaning no progress. Diamond’s pivotal big bankruptcy hearing in Houston remains on schedule for July 29. Don’t be surprised if streaming for Twins games becomes an option after the hearing.

>> Talks about a new Twins radio deal are underway. Incumbent WCCO-AM has had rights the last half-dozen years and is in the mix, but so are iHeart and Hubbard broadcasting.

>> Twin Royce Lewis, 25, hasn’t even played 100 major league games yet has 27 career home runs and 73 RBIs while hitting .303.

>> Sonny Gray, 34, who left the Twins for $75 million, three-year deal with the Cardinals last November, is 9-4 with a 2.81 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 83 1/3 innings this season.

>> Ex-Twin Miguel Sanó, 31, while rehabbing from knee inflammation, burned himself by leaving a heat pack on too long without a pad. He’s hitting .243 with 32 strikeouts in 70 at-bats for the Angels.

>> A luxury Target Center suite for the WNBA Lynx-Indiana Fever (Caitlin Clark) game on July 14 was bought for $1,700 via auction the other day.

>> David Kahn, 62, infamous as Timberwolves president in the 2009 NBA draft for choosing Jonny Flynn over Steph Curry, is president of Paris Basketball. France has produced the NBA’s last two No. 1 NBA draft picks, Victor Wembanyama and Zaccharie Risacher. France will have a formidable team in Paris next month for the Olympics.

>> Don’t be surprised if the Wild soon hire former Islanders head coach Jack Capuano, 57, as an assistant.

>> The Lynx are valued at $85 million with revenue in 2023 of $131 million, per analysis by Sportico, which has the Las Vegas Aces No. 1 in the WNBA at $140 million with revenue of $17.8 million. The average WNBA team is valued at $96 million.

Overheard

>> From baseball statistician extraordinaire Bill James via Eddie Epstein’s “Disaffected Musings” blog on the late Willie Mays: “Willie Mays was overqualified for the Hall of Fame.”

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