Matty Writes Sports

One of the biggest offseason moves of 2024 happened only one week out of training camp, an unusual time for such a big acquisition to occur. On the morning of the 28th September (BST), the New York Knicks finally acquired their most coveted player. Karl-Anthony Towns, four time all star, two time All-NBA and New York native was finally going to be playing his basketball at Madison Square Garden.

Going the other way, the Knicks sent Julius Randle, who had missed the postseason with a shoulder injury, and one of the NovaKnicks, Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota, as well as a lottery protected pick that belonged to the Detroit Pistons. Immediately, it sent both fanbases into rapture, but mainly for opposite reasons; Timberwolves fans rightly mourned the loss of their longest tenured player, a player who had stuck by the franchise through thick and thin, whilst New York fans welcomed the 2024 All-Star, despite some sentiments of disappointment for the loss of Julius and Donte.

Towns was drafted 1st overall by the Timberwolves in the 2015 NBA Draft. The Wolves had just come off of a dismal season, finishing bottom of the NBA with a 16-66 record, failing to reach the playoffs oncer again, extending their NBA worst playoff drought. Towns was a star bigman at Kentucky, as the team lost only one game, a Final Four matchup with the Wisconsin Badgers. His stellar play and obvious upside led to his drafting 1st overall, and, immediately Towns showed immense promise.

The New York native won the 2015-16 Rookie of the Year unanimously, becoming only the fifth player in history to do so, averaging 18.3ppg as the Wolves continued to languish at the bottom of the NBA. The next season was a huge improvement, as Towns’ average jumped to 25.1ppg, as well as provingh himself as a dangerous outside shooter, hitting on 37% of his 3 point attempts for new coach Tom Thibodeau.

For 2017, Timberwolves management had seen enough from their two young stars, Towns, and 2014-15 Rookie of the Year winner Andrew Wiggins to think now was the time to go all in. They traded two of Towns’ young teammates, Zach Lavine and Kris Dunn, as well as the 2017 7th overall pick Lauri Markkanen to Chicago, in exchange for Jimmy Butler. Butler, the 30th pick in the 2011 Draft had wanted out of Chicago for a while, and finally, the Bulls granted his wish, sending him to Minnesota. Now, Towns had his best teammate by far. And for a while, everything looked good.

The Timberwolves started well, emerging towards the top of the Western Conference. By the time, Butler tore his meniscus in a game against the Houston Rockets in February, the team were sat at the 3rd seed in the Western Conference, only behind the Rockets with MVP James Harden, and the reigning champs, the Golden State Warriors. Towns and Butler made the All-Star game, although Butler chose not to play. However, in Jimmy’s absence, the Timberwolves fell to the 8 seed, and were eliminated in the first round by those Rockets.

Little did the team know, this would be Butler’s only season in Minnesota. There were repeated reports that Butler, who is, by all accounts, a basketball psychopath was annoyed with both Towns and Wiggins’ work ethic and tensions exploded in the 2018 training camp. In a widely reported story, made popular by Butler himself, he had taken the Wolves’ third stringers and faced the rest of the starters (including Towns and Wiggins) and won in a scrimmage. Butler was soon out of the door, and the Wolves fell in the standings once again.

The 2019-20 season was as bad as it could get for the Wolves. Towns was still on the roster, but the rest of the team was collapsing around him, and once again, the Wolves had a bottom of the barrel season, finishing only 19-45, and not receiving an invite to the NBA Bubble. The Timberwolves were back at square one.

For many stars, this would have been the writing on the wall. The team were back down in the dumps, and Towns was entering the prime of his career. Now a two time all star, would Towns want to spend the next few years of his career, when his prime was about to begin, at the bottom of the standings?

I don’t think many would have blamed him if he had decided to skip town and move on. But Towns wasn’t that kind of player. He stuck around as the Wolves brought in Anthony Edwards from the 2020 Draft, and immediately KAT embraced his role as a vet to the young rookie. The 2020-21 season ended with a 23-49 record, but the signs were all there. The Wolves had completely rebuilt the team and now, with some youthful energy, the team were ready to make a splash.

However, the media consensus around Towns at this stage was that he was, quote on quote, ‘soft’. Throughout his career, KAT was never a strong defender, which he had already received criticism for, but after his incident with Jimmy Butler, the narrative around him changed. Now, he was a player you could never win with, someone who could never be the first option on a championship contending team, and, once seen as one of the best young players in the NBA, Towns was now seen as a statpadder on bad teams. Unfortunately, this narrative would follow Towns throughout the rest of his Timberwolves career.

Regardless, the Timberwolves surprised many around the NBA (not me) by making the 2022 Playoffs as the 7 seed. Only a year on from winning only 20 games, the Wolves won 46, led by an injury free Towns and the emerging superstar in Anthony Edwards, the team set up a date with the 2 seeded Memphis Grizzlies, led by their own young star, Ja Morant. This series, for the most part didn’t feel like a 2 vs 7 matchup, as the Timberwolves hung with the Grizzlies most of the way. In fact, the Timberwolves held several double digit leads on the series, however, through inexperience and bad plays, these leads were wiped away, allowing the Grizzlies to triumph in six games.

It wasn’t only a positive season for the team though; it was a successful season for Towns too. A return to the All Star game for the first time in three years, making an All-NBA team for the first time in four years, winning the NBA 3 point contest and scoring a career high 60 points in a game against the San Antonio Spurs. All things considered, 2021-22 was an excellent year for KAT.

The 2022 off season changed a lot for the Timberwolves. Encouraged by their 2021-22 season, Tim Connelly, the President of Basketball Operations made a big splash, acquiring 3x DPOY Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz, who had decided to commence their rebuild. However, the price wasn’t cheap, as it dragged Patrick Beverley, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro and 4 first rounders way from the Twin Cities and towards Utah. However, on paper, pairing Towns with a defensive minded big like Rudy Gobert seemed perfect. Towns had never been a strong rim protector or rebounder and Rudy was… well both of those things. What could go wrong?

As it turned out, a lot. The Timberwolves struggled early in the 2022-23 campaign, as the fit between Towns and Gobert looked clunky and the stats proved it. The Wolves limped into a November 28th matchup against the Washington Wizards at 10-10, a game where Towns would hit the floor with a calf strain. He wouldn’t return for another 51 games.

In his absence, the Wolves staggered along, led by Edwards, who was selected to his first All-Star game, as well as a collection of new teammates. At the deadline, D’Angelo Russell was sent away from the Wolves, with Minnesota receiving Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander Walker in return, who helped the team make the playoffs once again, even without Towns’ impact for most of the season. However, the team were swiftly beaten by the 1 seeded Denver Nuggets in 5 games.

Throughout all of this, Towns has been the one consistent in Minnesota. When he played, he was an excellent and consistent shooter, averaging a career 52, 40, 83 shooting splits. But Towns was still seen as soft, and, if the Wolves wanted to win anything with Edwards, then Towns and his large contract had to go.

However, I don’t think many people saw the 2023-24 season coming for the Wolves. After a tumultuous 2022-23, many expected the Wolves’ fit problems to continue, with one of Towns or Gober needing to be moved. The ‘Twin Towers’ gimmick could never work in the modern, 3 point centric NBA, right? Well the Timberwolves proved it could.

56 wins, 3rd in the Western Conference, All-Star appearances for both Ant-Man and KAT, DPOY for Rudy Gobert, 6MOY for Naz Reid. The Timberwolves’ second most wins in franchise history, and a real shot at winning the NBA Title.

In their way, the Phoenix Suns, who had won all three games against Minnesota in the regular season. However, the Wolves took care of business, sweeping Phoenix and moving to the second round for the 1st time in 20 years. Next it was the defending champion Denver Nuggets.

The Timberwolves came out on top, and, if there was ever a way to change the narrative about you, Karl-Anthony Towns did it near perfectly. Throughout the series, the 4 time All-Star played incredible defence against league MVP Nikola Jokic, especially in Game 2 and 7, where the Timberwolves came up big. Late on in Game 7, with the Nuggets looking to make a late run, the ball bounced off of the rim from an Anthony Edwards 3 pointer. None of the Nuggets’ defenders could make it, but KAT could, slamming the ball home for an emphatic putback, that all but crushed the hopes of the Nuggets, and sent the Wolves to their second Western Conference Finals in franchise history.

However, in the WCF against Dallas, the wheels came off of the victory bus, as Dallas swamped the Timberwolves’ offence, leading to a series victory in only 5 games. However, the vibes were high and many believed Minnesota could make another run if they ran it back.

But they didn’t.

Now that Towns is a member of the New York Knicks, he has continued doing what he does best. Getting points on the board. In only his 4th game with the Knicks, he exploded for 44 points against the Miami Heat, and six games later, he put up 46 against the Chicago Bulls. For the Knicks, KAT has been nothing short of sensational, with his highest point average since his sophomore year back in 2016-17, and he has shown no signs of slowing down this season. As well as his points average, Towns has been crashing the boards at the highest rate of his career, grabbing 13 rebounds a contest, and finally, the narrative around KAT has shifted. In the spotlight of the New York media, Bodega KAT, as he has been called, has shined, and now after a long ten years, Towns is finally getting the flowers he deserves outside of Minnesota.

Long may it continue.