The New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves have players who are going to change the NBA forever in Kristaps Porzingis and Karl-Anthony Towns.
With no hyperbole whatsoever, the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves are offering the NBA a flash forward. The first 2016-17 preview of the future ended in New York’s favor—a 106-104 win in Minnesota—and there will be many more to come.
Though there are a number of promising players on both teams, the clashes between the Knicks and Timberwolves are all about two men: Kristaps Porzingis and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Towns and Porzingis had a clash to remember on November 30. Towns went off for an unfathomable 47 points, 18 rebounds, and three blocks, and Porzingis countered with 29 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and two blocks of his own.
According to Marc Berman of The New York Post, six-time All-NBA honoree Carmelo Anthony praised Porzingis and Towns as the future faces of the NBA.
"“The sky’s the limit for them two guys in this league,” Anthony said. “Towns, playing the way he’s playing, Kristaps, getting better and better each day, they’ll be around for a long time. They’ll be face of this league in a couple of years.”"
Head coach Jeff Hornacek—an All-NBA honoree when he played—agreed with the sentiment expressed by Anthony and predicted dominance for both men.
"“Two great players in this league for a long, long time,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said. “Both [21] years old. They’re going to be dominating in these next bunch of years. It’s fun to watch.”"
The Knicks are fortunate to have one of those two potentially dominant players.
There are others to include with them—Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, and a select few others—but Porzingis and Towns are the focal points here. They check the boxes of standards for a traditional big man and still find ways to incorporate modern trends and expectations.
The question is: what is it that makes Porzingis and Towns so special and how are they changing the game?