Karl-Anthony Towns' return to Minnesota 'wasn't just another game'

MINNEAPOLIS — Long before the tribute videos and standing ovations, hours before the autograph signings and hugs from old friends, Karl-Anthony Towns sat alone in an empty, whisper-quiet Target Center.

His New York Knicks — it still feels weird saying that — were scheduled for shootaround later Thursday morning in preparation for a game against Minnesota. Towns did not stay in the team hotel just down the street. He woke up at the house he still owns in the Minneapolis suburbs and rode in on a white carpet of snow the city rolled out for him to celebrate his return. He spent Wednesday night in his house, but he needed some time to himself in his home, the arena he grew up in during nine seasons with the Timberwolves.

“I came here early just so I could be by myself at Target Center and sit here and just soak up the energy that I know is still here from my time here,” Towns told The Athletic as he leaned against a wall in the back hallway. “And just kind of for myself, with no Knicks personnel here, no teammates, no coaches, no nobody. Just to be able to reminisce a little bit.”

He pushed down the blue, folding seat in the stands and eased onto the cushion. There he was, alone with his thoughts and his emotions, of which there were so many. His eyes darted around the arena, each spot holding a special memory.

Over there in the corner is where Derrick Rose blocked Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum’s 3-pointer at the buzzer, capping off his 50-point night and a Wolves win in 2018. There at the free-throw line was where “movies was made of,” when he hit two shots to win a game against Atlanta in 2023 in his return from a 52-game absence because of a calf injury. Then there was that spot on the baseline, where Towns grabbed an offensive rebound, whirled and hit a jumper to beat the Memphis Grizzlies in 2019. 

“I have a memory of every inch of this place,” Towns said.

Some are celebratory. Some are somber. When he looked toward the ceiling, Towns saw two banners. The first was for Flip Saunders, the man who drafted him No. 1 overall in 2015 and died suddenly from complications stemming from Hodgkin lymphoma before Towns ever played a game for the franchise. The two bonded quickly in the months after the draft, with the Towns family taking to the gregarious Saunders. Towns was 19 years old when Saunders passed away, and he has spent the rest of his basketball career playing to validate that decision.

“I promised him that I would give my all to this organization before he drafted me,” Towns said. “After he passed, I doubled down on that promise. I thought he would be here to watch me do it.”

The Basketball 100

The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process.

The story of the greatest plays in NBA history.

BuyBuy The Basketball 100

Next to Saunders’ banner is one for Malik Sealy, the beloved Wolves player and close friend of Kevin Garnett who was killed in a car accident in 2000. Towns wore a Sealy jersey to Target Center for Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks in May.

Then he looked to the section of seats right above the Wolves bench, where his mother would sit to watch the games. Jacqueline lit up Target Center with her smile and the cheering for her son that was so loud that KAT’s father, Karl, had to sit in another section.

“She liked all that hoopla,” Big Karl said. “I just wanted to enjoy the game.”

On many nights in a Timberwolves jersey, an overly emotional Towns could mean trouble. Offensive fouls, around-the-neck passes that sailed into the third row, 3-pointers that clanked off the back iron.

On Thursday night, the flood of emotion produced a tidal wave that crashed down on the heads of his former team. After a wobbly start, Towns wrecked the Timberwolves, scoring 32 points, grabbing 20 rebounds and dishing out six assists in a 133-107 wipeout by the Knicks on national television. It was an emphatic statement to the team that traded him after he helped lead the Wolves to their first conference finals in 20 years. But there was no bitterness or pettiness in Towns after the game, only gratitude for the time he spent here.

“I’m blessed to be able to have called Minnesota home,” Towns said after the win. “It was a place that welcomed me with open arms and gave me, my family, especially my mother, some of the best memories of my life.”


Karl-Anthony Towns signs an autograph for a fan after the Knicks’ win over the Timberwolves. (David Berding / Getty Images)

For a solid portion of his nine years in Minnesota, Towns took the brunt of the blame from fans for the team’s lack of success. He was the one constant during an incredibly volatile part of the franchise’s history filled with turnover in the front office, coaching staff and with the players around him. When he shot just 24 percent from 3-point range in the Western Conference finals loss to Dallas last spring, his name was brought up more than most when it came to what needed to be changed.

That change arrived in September, just two days before training camp began when the Wolves traded Towns to New York for Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a future first-round pick from Detroit.

The Knicks’ interest in Towns had been known for years, but the timing of the trade was a shock to everyone involved. Towns had professed his desire to stay in Minnesota after losing in the playoffs and believed that when no deal had materialized that close to the start of the season that he was going to be back for another run at it with Ant, Rudy and the rest.

“There was no part of me that was willing to leave,” Towns said. “And life had a different path for me. I was stunned. I’m still stunned I’m in a different jersey.”

There was plenty of logic in the move for the Wolves. Towns was starting a four-year, $220 million extension, which combined with big-money deals for Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels to push the payroll into the dreaded second apron, a threshold in the new collective bargaining agreement that acts as a pseudo hard salary cap. It brings severe restrictions on trades and free-agent signings and can even push a team’s first-round draft pick to the bottom of the round if a team is there long enough.

With Edwards just 23 and seemingly poised for superstardom, the Wolves saw a need to reorganize their books to give themselves a better chance to continue building around him for the next several seasons.

But the Wolves also made clear that they believed this was a basketball trade as much as it was a financial one. For as gifted as Towns is offensively, the Wolves still were just 17th in offensive efficiency last season. They saw Randle as the kind of shot-creator Edwards needed by his side in the Dallas series and DiVincenzo as an incredibly valuable shooter and defender off the bench.

Through 26 games, the results have been lopsided. Randle’s numbers are solid — 20.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists — but he is not the threat from the perimeter that Towns is and has often looked lost on the defensive end. After shooting 40 percent from 3 in New York last season, DiVincenzo is hitting just 32.5 percent from deep this year. The Timberwolves offense ranks 21st in the league.

The Knicks have the second-ranked offense in the NBA. Towns is averaging 25.0 points, an NBA-leading 14.2 rebounds and shooting 53.5 percent from the field and a blistering 46 percent from 3. The Knicks have had to work through some defensive issues, but they are now 17-10 and in third place in the Eastern Conference after blasting one of the league’s top defenses on their home court.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

As KAT returns to Minnesota, Knicks have gotten all they could have expected

The Knicks led by as many as 36 points. Towns was nearly perfect, hitting 10 of 12 field goals and all five of his 3s.

“I told him when we was down 30, I can’t show my happiness for you, but hell yeah, I was super happy for him, man,” Edwards said. “That’s everything you dream of. Get traded, come back, beat your team by 30.”

Edwards was far from the only one happy to see Towns again.

The gestures for KAT were both big and small. The Timberwolves had not one, but two tribute videos for him, one highlighting his career on the court and the other for his vast work in the community.

Towns’ father and girlfriend, Jordyn Woods, sat courtside at the game. Big Karl was assigned seat No. 32.

“It’s very emotional,” Big Karl said. “Gained a lot of friends and did a lot of things here at the Target Center. Just reliving the good times.”

Timberwolves director of communications Sara Perez, a Towns confidante, presented KAT with a framed mosaic that used hundreds of tiny images of Towns’ time in Minnesota to recreate one of his family’s favorite photos of KAT, his father and his mother celebrating the team’s victory over Denver in Game 82 of the 2017-18 season that pushed the Wolves into the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

Fans gathered near the Knicks end of the court to watch Towns go through his pregame warmup routine. He met with a few of the community groups that he worked closely with during his time here, signed autographs and basked in the glow of seeing his No. 32 jersey all over the place.

Nicole Van Sickle’s drive to Target Center was 90 minutes and featured semi trucks in ditches on the side of the snow-covered highway. On top of that, it was an 8:30 p.m. start on a weeknight for the 37-year-old mother. There were more than enough reasons for Van Sickle to miss this game.

But she had one reason to push through the conditions: Towns was back home. That’s all she needed.

“Honestly, KAT coming here in 2015 reignited a lot for the organization and the fan base,” Van Sickle said. “I got my first ticket package in 2017, and I’ve been a member ever since.

“There were some dark days, where, literally, the only reason to show up was to watch Karl. We knew we weren’t going to win when they were facing this All-Star team, that All-Star team. We came to watch Karl.”

Monica Weber, a 13-year season-ticket holder, wasn’t devastated when Towns was traded like she was when her all-time favorite Timberwolves player Ricky Rubio was dealt in 2017. However, she doesn’t have any disdain for Towns like she carried when Kevin Love and Jimmy Butler made their returns to Minnesota after being traded. She appreciated how hard Towns played every night and how eager he always was to prop up his teammates, as he did routinely last season as Edwards leaped into stardom with a force that shifted who was the face of the organization.

Last year’s conference finals run was the first time Towns had accomplished significant team success. There were more losing seasons during Towns’ tenure than winning. For some fans, that can’t be ignored, and neither can the financial constraints the team is under. Yet, in the same breath, Weber said it’s unfair for that to be his legacy in Minnesota.

“It’s about more of the community member than the basketball player that I think we miss,” Weber said. “I wish him nothing but the success and happiness that he so deserves in his efforts. Am I a little sad that, maybe, we could have run it back another year? Sure. It’s the nature of the second apron and his contract. It sucks that’s the position we’re in.”

Just before the game began, the Knicks starters were introduced one by one. Towns sat at the end of the bench waiting for his name to be called last, just like it was in Minnesota. Public address announcer Jedidiah Jones paused to let the energy build, and the sellout crowd got to its feet with a thunderous cheer.

Towns beamed as Jones delivered his trademark introduction.

“And now, the post with the most, the 7-foot Kentucky Wildcat, No. 32, Karl-Anthony Towns!”

The crowd erupted even more, KAT’s Knicks teammates surrounded him, a moment heartwarming enough to get the Grinch, er, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, to smile.

In section 138, Van Sickle sat with her friend who was visiting from Denver. Van Sickle said she got emotional as both tribute videos played. Her Timberwolves fandom is rooted in the way Towns entertained on the court. However, it grew because of what Towns, the person, had to endure while with the organization. The Wolves had seven general managers and five head coaches in KAT’s first eight seasons. Butler’s brief, volatile stint somehow hurt Towns’ reputation more than Butler’s, and the losses of Saunders and his mother devastated him.

“He went through a lot,” she said. “It was a tough decade with a lot of turmoil. From the Jimmy Butler saga to him losing his mother, everything deepened that connection. I don’t know him at all, but you just have so much love, empathy and support for the person.”

Her family took the trade hard as well.

“I have an 8-year-old son, and he was in tears,” Van Sickle said. “I was on the couch consoling him before bed telling him it’ll be OK and that we can cheer for the Knicks, too. We always loved Jalen Brunson, and now you add Karl to the mix.”

Perhaps wrapped up in the emotion of the night, Towns had three points and four turnovers in an 11-minute shift in the first quarter. After a brief rest settled him down, he went to work in the second.

He drew Gobert out to the perimeter, and then just shot over him.

He got on the offensive glass to keep possessions alive.

He got longtime friend and fellow New Jersey native Naz Reid in foul trouble in the first quarter, then blew right by him in the second half on his way to the rim.

As Edwards trudged out of the locker room to go meet up with Towns, he just shrugged and shook his head.

“He’s Karl-Anthony Towns,” Edwards said. “That’s what he do.”

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Eyes on Karl-Anthony Towns: Observing the Knicks’ star in Orlando for one night

The controlled aggression that Towns is playing with this season, the synergy with Brunson in the pick-and-roll and the steeliness he gained from last season’s deep playoff run have made him look as formidable as he ever has. The Knicks appear to be rounding into form as an offensive juggernaut, and Towns looks fully settled in after the chaos of the trade.

“That win was very important, something we’re very appreciative of,” Towns said. “So you know this game wasn’t just another game. If anyone told you otherwise, that’s a lie.”

Sitting alone in the arena on Thursday morning, a familiar feeling washed over Towns. He did the same thing in Denver last May before Game 7, when he came to Ball Arena earlier than everyone else and took a seat in the stands.

There was one major difference. In Denver, he was trying to visualize the future, what the Nuggets were going to run, the fakes Nikola Jokić was going to use to get him off balance, the opportunities Minnesota would need to cash in on to make it to the conference finals for the first time in 20 years.

This time around, in the building he called home for nearly a decade, Towns was looking back at all that Minnesota has meant to him.

“I watched him go from a boy to a man here,” Big Karl said.

The trade happened so fast and so close to the season that KAT never really had the chance to say goodbye to his first professional home. Three months later, he is fully settled in New York, playing for a contender and soaking up the magic of Madison Square Garden.

The initial shock of the trade has worn off. Towns is thrilled to be in a Knicks uniform. The reunion with Thibodeau is off to a terrific start. The pairing with Brunson is elite, and the Knicks have the look of real contenders in the East.

“Nothing is possible without my teammates. They empower me,” Towns said. “They allow me to be in these positions. They’re the reason any of this is possible. So shoutout to them. Especially the coaching staff too.”

But there is still a piece of him here in this building, with these fans.

“I was committed to retiring here. I was committed to playing the rest of my career here, and my family was on board and my friends were on board,” Towns told The Athletic.

In a building that holds so many memories for Towns, he was able to add one more on Thursday night: his first victory as a member of the visiting team. Except he did not feel like a visitor.

The day after he was traded in September, he went to a youth soccer game just north of the Twin Cities to see some of his biggest fans before he left. While he was there, one of KAT’s friends chuckled to himself while he processed the news of his buddy moving to New York, so close to his childhood home in Edison, N.J. 

“Everyone is saying he’s going back home,” the friend said. “He already is home.”

As Towns walked out of the arena after that shootaround conversation, he shifted from remembering the past to visualizing the future.

“When I have kids, I would love to bring my kids back so they could see that their dad, he was OK at basketball when he was in Minnesota,” he said with a smile.

He reached for the door to head outside where a car was waiting to take him back to the team hotel. On his feet were a pair of white slides.

They said “WOLVES” on them.

Sign up to get The Bounce, the essential NBA newsletter from Zach Harper and The Athletic staff, delivered free to your inbox.

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; top photos: David Sherman, Ken Smith / NBAE via Getty Images; Christian Petersen / Getty Images)



Sumber

ARTIKEL TERKAITDARI PENULIS