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 OG 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 Hall 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 Fourth 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.