Jalen Brunson may be the captain of the New York Knicks, but Karl-Anthony Towns is their most important player.
At least, that's what Kendrick Perkins recently said on Monday's edition of Get Up.
Though many in his field have recently started to believe a deep playoff run may not be in the cards for New York here in 2025-26, the 14-year NBA veteran turned ESPN analyst still views the club as having "a legit chance" of clinching a championship-round berth, and the key toward doing so is having a fully locked-in KAT manning the middle.
"If they use this recipe of using Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks actually got a legit chance of going to the NBA Finals. Karl-Anthony Towns is the most important player on this team, and they got to continue to find ways to feature him in the offense," Perkins said.
Karl-Anthony Towns is most polarizing player on Knicks
All throughout his second season with the Knicks, Towns has regularly been on the receiving end of criticism for his inconsistent play and often underwhelming defensive efforts.
However, as MSG Network's Alan Hahn recently put it on X (formerly Twitter), these criticisms only arise when the big man falls short of his potential, for, as he said, "we know how impactful he can be when he’s locked in!"
From both the eye test and advanced metrics, it's clear that the way in which the 30-year-old produces on the floor directly impacts the outcome of a game for New York.
The primary difference from a win/ loss basis comes in the offensive efficiency department.
In their 37 wins this year, Towns is averaging 20.1 points while shooting 49.1 percent from the floor and a lights-out 41.3 percent from deep. On top of this, his plus-minus is a second-best plus-11.5, and his defensive rating has been an elite 105.6.
Meanwhile, through 21 losses, he's posting 19.9 points on a lowly 44.5 percent shooting from the floor and an even more putrid 28.7 percent shooting from deep, while registering with a minus-3.4 plus-minus and a ghastly 119.0 defensive rating.
In many ways, the trick is to get Towns involved in the offense early on so he can find a rhythm quickly in a game.
After getting just three shots up in the first half against the Pistons on February 19 (went just 1-for-3), it's no surprise that he couldn't get into a groove when they needed him most in the pivotal final two quarters (finished with 21 points while going a miserable 25.0 percent from deep).
In the end, the Knicks were ultimately blown out by a final score of 126-111.
On the flip side, in both of their last two games against the Rockets and Bulls, Towns came out of the gates swinging, going 4-for-7 in the former and 6-for-10 in the latter during the first two periods of each.
In the end, the All-Star would drop 25 and 28 points, respectively, on a combined 62.5 percent shooting from the floor and 66.7 percent shooting from deep while the Knicks went on to win two straight.
As Perkins would continue to highlight during his appearance on the program, Towns "works off of emotions," and suggested that stroking his ego seems to get the most out of him.
Needless to say, when Towns is dialed in and utilized as a primary weapon, he's truly one of the best players in the game today. Unfortunately, on far too many occasions, be it as a result of a lack of touches, arguing with the refs, or other rumored off-court issues, he's found himself out of focus.
Having someone so unpredictable serving as the 1B of this championship-aspiring Knicks team is understandably quite unnerving for fans.
During this final stretch of the regular season leading into the playoffs, it's up to coach Mike Brown to figure out how to use Towns as a schematic priority more consistently, for only then will the club's full potential be officially unlocked.