Throughout the first half of the 2025-26 campaign, New York Knicks big Karl-Anthony Towns has regularly suggested that he doesn't fully understand coach Mike Brown's newly implemented on-court system and approach to building team culture.
While many have bashed him for this disconnect, when assessing both the advanced metrics and sheer eye test, there's actually a case to be made that his confusion and discomfort are not entirely his fault.
New Knicks environment not treating Karl-Anthony Towns all that well
A five-time All-Star and established All-NBA talent, Towns has grown accustomed to being a high-usage cornerstone who serves as the focal point of his respective team's offense.
Last year, he found himself registering arguably his best season yet while being utilized in such a fashion, posting 24.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists while shooting 52.6 percent from the floor and 42.0 percent from distance.
Here in year 11 and in year one within Brown's scheme, however, KAT's production has taken a clear turn for the worse.
On the surface, it's not as if his production appears to be all that bad. Through 41 games played, Towns is still dropping 20.8 points and 11.5 rebounds on 46.9 percent shooting.
However, he's doing so on the fourth-fewest shot attempts of his career (14.5 per game), the lowest usage rate since 2022-23 (26.1), and the worst long-range shooting efficiency since his rookie campaign (36.3).
From a play-calling standpoint, it's not as if coach Brown is crafting many designated plays for him in games, as fellow All-Star Jalen Brunson has been so heavily relied upon for offensive production to the point where he's sporting the second-highest usage rate of his career at 31.4.
On top of all this, to make matters worse, the newly minted headman didn't do himself any favors when it comes to ingratiating himself to his star center during New York's recent clash against the Warriors, as he playfully embraced Draymond Green after the final buzzer sounded despite the fact that Dubs star ruthlessly pulled Towns to the ground mid-game and was called for a flagarant one.
Now, on the bright side, Brown did make an effort to praise the big man for his efforts following Wednesday's blowout win over the Brooklyn Nets, calling him a great player and a "smart guy."
However, unless overt and consistent changes are made in both behavior and play-calling, the damage may be too great to fix in just this second half of the season.