NBA fans weren’t as excited about a mock trade swapping Karl-Anthony Towns for Bam Adebayo. Amid the Miami Heat’s 1-4 start and Towns’ stalled contract negotiations with the New York Knicks, Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus presented the idea on Tuesday. The framework would send Towns to the Heat, while the Knicks land Adebayo and Tim Hardaway Jr. with no picks involved.

Pincus made the case for the Heat to pull the trigger on such a deal because of their spacing issues with a frontcourt of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.

“Towns, now an NBA champion, is nowhere near Adebayo’s defensive capability,” he wrote. “While the Heat’s center stunned the world with an 83-point game last year, he’s nowhere near Towns as a scorer or shooter. Adebayo averages 16.2 points per game and shoots 31.4 percent from three. Towns’ 22.7 points and 39.8 percent shooting immediately change Miami’s offensive spacing.”

Meanwhile, Pincus said the Knicks’ motivation for the trade would be monetary. Unlike Towns, Adebayo is locked in for one more guaranteed year before a player option season. Towns will be a free agent next year if he opts out. He also argued that Adebayo’s defense outweighs the lack of 3-point shooting threat compared to Towns.

“Adebayo, 29, has a fixed cost of $53.4 million for 2027-28, followed by a player option at $57.4 million. The team has time before it has to recommit to Adebayo, who is significantly better than Towns defensively.”

The proposal went viral on Thursday after Fullcourtpass on X posted an aggregation, drawing a plethora of reactions, most of which opposed the idea, feeling it favored the Heat more.

“This is disrespectful to KAT , Bam is good but cmon,” one fan said.

Karl-Anthony Towns to the Heat does make a lot of sense because of his offensive fit with Giannis Antetokounmpo

Most fans would feel the Heat would benefit more by replacing Bam Adebayo with Karl-Anthony Towns, and they aren’t far off. Towns is a career 39.7% 3-point shooter (4.3 attempts) and is back to shooting over 40.0% from 3 this season (40.9% on 4.4 attempts).

It’s as good a fit as one could ask for alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo. The two-time MVP had some of his best seasons, playing alongside a center who could shoot the lights out on any given night. Brook Lopez was that player for several years and Antetokounmpo even won a championship with the now-Clippers center.

Moreover, Towns is no longer one of the weaker defensive bigs. His improvement in that area was key to the Knicks’ championship run. Towns is also a solid rebounder, averaging 11.2 boards per game for his career and 13.8 this season. That would alleviate a lot of pressure and toll on Antetokounmpo’s body.

However, if it’s a simple trade with no picks involved, as Eric Pincus suggested, it might be too lopsided for the Knicks. Additionally, trading a player that would make a conference rival better is quite rare, and New York might not want to negotiate with Miami, even if it intends to trade Towns.

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