Karl-Anthony Towns trend pokes massive holes in narrative Knicks star is selling

New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns has made it no secret that he believes he's the best shooting big in NBA history. It's a statement he's made on record as far back as 2021, and there's a strong case for the six-time All-Star being correct.

If there's one reason to believe that Towns isn't quite in the pole position that he believes he is, however, it's the fact that he doesn't shoot all that well against great teams.

Towns boasts a career average of 1.7 three-point field goals made on 39.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Those numbers have jumped to 2.0 conversions on 40.3 percent efficiency over the past nine seasons, thus strengthening an already powerful case for his claimed distinction.

Rob Perez of the Give and Go show on Sirius XM NBA Radio offered quite a counter to Towns' claim, however, when he pointed out how the big man seems to disappear from three against playoff teams.

It was an interesting claim by Perez that, upon researching it further, pokes gigantic holes in Towns' claim for the top spot amongst three-point shooting bigs.

Karl-Anthony Towns is the "greatest big man shooter of all time"—depending on the opponent

In three games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Towns is shooting 2-of-7 from beyond the arc. In two games against the Detroit Pistons, he's 2-of-6. Subtract a monster 6-of-14 performance against the Miami Heat and he's 3-of-15 in the two sides' three other matchups this season.

Towns is also 3-of-13 against the Philadelphia 76ers, 3-of-12 against the Toronto Raptors, 3-of-10 against the Charlotte Hornets, and 2-of-7 against the Milwaukee Bucks.

That's an alarming fact considering those are seven of the top 10 non-Knicks teams in the Eastern Conference standings. He is a respectable 5-of-14 against the Orlando Magic, the current No. 7 seed, but he shot 3-of-10 between two of the games and 2-of-4 in another to skew the numbers.

Towns has thankfully shot well against the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics, but one can't help but wonder why he's fallen off a cliff against the other teams factoring into the playoffs in the East.

Karl-Anthony Towns needs to be more assertive against top teams

The issue reared its head and caused Perez's analysis when Towns shot zero threes in a three-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was just one day after he shot 1-of-4 against the Raptors, which followed a stretch during which he attempted just one three in three consecutive games.

It also acts a reminder of the fact that Towns' career three-point field goal percentage drops from 39.8 percent in the regular season to 35.0 in the playoffs.

Clearly, statistics only mean so much in the postseason. Furthermore, 35.0 percent is a welcome number for a big man in that environment. With a history of going cold against prominent opponents, one simply can't help but wonder if his claim is as strong as he believes it to be.

Towns can easily correct this issue and prove his skeptics wrong, but there's progress to be made on that polarizing front as the Knicks pursue an elusive championship.