When the New York Knicks visited the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night, it was the kind of clash that made you think these on-paper powerhouses from the NBA's Eastern Conference would be their absolute best. And yet, the Knicks barely even utilized their most important player, Karl-Anthony Towns.
While the six-time All-Star saw 29 minutes of floor time in New York's 109-94 loss, he was barely an afterthought in the festivities. As has frustratingly too often been the case this season, he wasn't involved enough in the offense, managing only five field-goal attempts—and five turnovers.
"Probably not great when your All-Star big man, whose primary job is to put the ball in the hoop, has as many turnovers as he does field-goal attempts," ESPN's Tim MacMahon quipped on The Hoop Collective podcast. "... All season-long KAT's not being featured in the offense has been a storyline there. ... He needs to be more aggressive. They need to find ways to get him shots."
The Knicks will never win big without Towns at his best. And a clunky role that limits his offensive impact and with it any hope of offsetting his defensive deficiencies is about as far from his best as the 'Bockers can get.
New York needs to activate Karl-Anthony Towns if it wants any shot at postseason success.
While frustration feels like one of the most familiar parts of the Karl-Anthony Towns process, the frustration has been uniquely aggravating this season.
Because even though the Knicks aren't squeezing nearly enough out of their high-scoring center, they're still reaping major rewards from his floor presence alone. His net differential is a borderline elite plus-7.8 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. That's the best among New York's nightly starters and third-highest on the entire team.
Which sort of checks out, right? Because the things that can really help this club—maintaining optimal spacing, providing support scoring and creation alongside Jalen Brunson—are the areas where Towns shines brightest.
Even when he's not shining particularly bright by his standards. His 20 points per outing are the fewest since his rookie year. His 13.9 field-goal attempts are a new career-low. It's hard to imagine he's comfortable with this reduced role, and his uncharacteristically low-for-him shooting rates (47.7 overall, 36.7 from three) suggest he almost certainly isn't.
This just cannot and will not be a winning formula for New York. Since Towns struggles adding anything of value on the defensive end, the wager has always been that he'll offset that and then some with his offensive output.
He is certainly skilled enough to make that happen. But only if the Knicks actaully give him a chance to do so.