After nine years with the Minnesota Timberwolves and two with the New York Knicks, No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns can call himself an NBA Champion. And he'd be well within his rights to expect others to address him that way, too. The All-NBA center has received an abundance of criticism throughout his career, with much of it based on little more than speculation or personal projection.
NBA All-Stars have not proven above this incredibly low bar for discourse, with Draymond Green mocking Towns on his podcast last season for avoiding him — in a matchup Towns missed to attend a funeral.
It's hard to identify the exact genesis of the off-court criticism and commentary that has clouded much of the conversation surrounding Towns' actual ability as a basketball player. Things were indubitably amplified, however, when Jimmy Butler's infamous showdown with management at a Timberwolves practice took the national media by storm. Years later, Towns has earned the last laugh.
He'll stay quiet, because of the exact grace that he displayed when he changed roles in the middle of the Knicks' championship run. Fans, however, can show KAT enough love to make up for it.
Towns has earned the last laugh, but won't take it; his dad, however, will
The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski wrote an incredible feature about Towns, making note of various points throughout the talented center's career that influenced and shaped his journey. The practice and media scuffle with Butler was certainly one of them.
Towns hasn't made anything close to a comment on the matter in years; he's clearly most interested in leaving it in the past. But his father, Karl Anthony Towns Sr., took a well-deserved bow as part of the article that has been as many years in the making — if not more.
“It only hurt me as a father to hear people saying stuff that was negative, that wasn’t true, to bring him down. But in the end, it all paid up. Jimmy ain’t got no championship. Karl bypassed him,” the elder Towns told Krawczynski.
The Knicks' star big man has played through injury, outplayed the best players in the NBA at his position, and played various roles on the way to ending the team's painful championship drought. He's earned all the respect he'll need in New York City for the rest of time. And it's at least in part because of his kindness, which cost him years of perception from the media and fans across the league as a "tough guy." Oh no.
It's hard to imagine him not being satisfied with his NBA Championship ring. That is, of course, until the next season tips off.
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