Karl-Anthony Towns challenged by ex-teammate to prove infuriating narrative wrong

New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns has spent the better part of his NBA career hearing about how he needs to do better against physical defense. It's a trend that's unfortunately persisted in 2025-26, with even a former teammate now getting in on the action.

Following the Knicks' 93-92 win over the cross-borough rival Brooklyn Nets, Josh Minott challenged Towns to respond favorably to being called out for his aversion to physicality.

Minott continued what's been a strong season in 2025-26 when he dropped 22 points in 26 minutes against the Knicks. New York ultimately prevailed, but that didn't stop Minott, who previously played with Towns on the Minnesota Timberwolves, from calling his former teammate out.

During a post-game interview, Minott spoke candidly about Towns, saying that he doesn't like physicality from opposing defenders.

Minnott and Towns are ex-teammates who know each other well, but calling the Knicks star out in the media like this is an eye-opening move.

Josh Minnott calls KAT out for not liking physicality: "I hope this angers him"

The narrative that Towns can be flustered by physical defense has been following him since college. It's inevitably been brought up since he joined the Knicks in 2024, with many calling on him to be more assertive in the post and finish with more proficiency through contract in the paint.

Towns has made welcome improvements on the defensive end of the floor in 2025-26, but still has those very issues to resolve on offense.

Towns is currently averaging just 1.9 points via post ups per game and a sub-standard 0.83 points per post-up. According to Basketball Index, Towns ranks No. 530 out of 539 qualified players in stable post-up points per possession.

To put it simply, Towns hasn't been able to generate anything even remotely close to consistent and dependable production or general success in post-up situations.

The optimistic take is that having a former teammate light a fire under him is what Towns needed with the playoffs approaching. That appears to be what Minnott's intention was based on the comment of, "I hope this angers him."

Thankfully, Towns posted 26 points and 15 rebounds against the physical approach Minnott employed. Perhaps that's a positive sign of things to come, with Towns responding to adversity with tenacity on both ends of the floor.

Optimistic a take as it may be, Towns' defensive improvement was a direct response to years of criticism. Answering the call on offense thus isn't out of the question.