Karl-Anthony Towns was never an underdog

On Towns' two-way brilliance and remarkable career

Karl-Anthony Towns has never been an underdog.

He’s a supremely talented seven-footer with a jumper 95% of guards would kill for. 247Sports had him as the #2 player in his high school class. He earned All-American honors for a ridiculously star-studded Kentucky team that eventually sent nine players to the NBA¹. The Timberwolves were delighted to draft him first overall, and he’s rewarded them (and subsequently New York) with multiple All-Star and All-NBA selections.

In other words, he’s got a hell of a pedigree.

But Towns never really connected with most NBA fans. Outside of a pocket of supportive Minnesotans, people were far more likely to mock the big man than celebrate him. Hell, he didn’t even really connect with his teams. The Timberwolves signed him to a super-max contract and almost immediately got buyer’s remorse, trading him before the extension even kicked in². His tenure with the Knicks has been up-and-down relative to expectations — just last summer, he was listed as one of the league’s worst contracts.

He is emotional, wearing his heart on his sleeve and showing vulnerability before Wemby made it cool. He briefly forgets the rules of basketball and then pleads for calls. Early in his career, he had some terrible playoff moments. He is confident to a fault in a discourse that too often refuses to acknowledge greatness without corresponding championships.

At his worst, he complains about his role, then coasts on defense and disappears on the other end (or, worse, loudly commits some of the worst offensive fouls ever seen). He makes funny voices, has an extremely expressive face, and is consistently meme’d by fans (often in a blatantly homophobic way), opponents, and even teammates.

In a league with a handful of players who have black holes for souls, one writer decided a few years back that KAT was “the most annoying player in the NBA.”

Somewhere along the way, Towns became, if not an underdog, underappreciated. And yet, he has persisted, improving and growing step by step. Two straight Conference Finals appearances (one in the West, one in the East) set the stage. Now, this magical postseason run has seen KAT upend every narrative.

This is one case where the stats tell much of the story. He’s willingly excised his worst shots to focus on playmaking and defense:

That’s a dramatic uptick in efficiency and playmaking (on both sides of the ball). New York has dominated in these playoffs to an unprecedented degree, and Towns has the best on/off of every Knicks rotation player. To put it in exact terms, the Knicks have a +25.2 net rating when Towns is on the floor in the postseason, ranking in the 95th percentile on the attack and 96th percentile when guarding yard.

His offensive role changes have been covered to life, here and elsewhere, although it’s worth noting that we saw significantly less of Towns-as-hub in the Cleveland series and last night than we did in Rounds 1 and 2. His passing has been sharp, his shooting immaculate, and his decision-making cleaner than ever before.

The Knicks razed the Eastern Conference like they were riding fire-breathing dragons, and Towns proved in Game 1 that he isn’t ready for a Wembanyama coronation just yet. I can’t remember the last time we saw a big man — scratch that, any player — face up and so casually destroy Wemby off the dribble, which Towns did three separate times early last night:

But nobody has ever doubted that KAT could score. The big shock has been the way the defense has leveled up, culminating in a whopper of a performance Wednesday night against a tired-looking and increasingly frustrated Wembanyama.

Pre-series, everyone was calling for OG Anunoby to guard the MVP finalist. Good thing Mike Brown is the coach, because nobody on Earth or beyond could have done a better job on Wemby than Towns did last night.

At one point in the game, the broadcast reported that Wemby was 1-for-8 with Towns guarding him. He finished the game going 6-for-21 overall (he did have 12 free throws, but only two of those shooting fouls were on KAT). Even when Wemby did score, it was a high degree-of-difficulty attempt over excellent defense:

Controlling a force of nature like Wembanyama is never a one-man effort, and the Knicks deserve credit for their aggressive dig-downs and gapping efforts. OG Anunoby, in particular, was a terror helping off of various guards:

The Spurs as a whole made just two shots outside the paint in the second half. That’s not good enough to open breathing room for Wembanyama. Take away Julian Champagnie’s 5-for-10 performance (man, that guy sees blue and orange like a gamecock sees red), and the Spurs shot just 6-for-33 from deep. Yikes.

But Towns was as strong at the point of attack as any Wembanyama defender we’ve seen yet. Wemby is too good to be denied forever. We saw him eventually figure out the Isaiah Hartenstein matchup, and he will do the same to Towns. But the Knicks have other curveballs to throw Wemby’s way, from Anunoby to Mitchell Robinson; they’ll keep him guessing.

Towns won’t win every battle, but after securing a Game 1 victory, he won’t have to. The Knicks, who have now won 12 straight playoff games, need to go just .500 the rest of the way to win the NBA Finals.

“I just felt a calm and a peace that had to come from the woman above,” KAT said after the game, crediting his mother (one of more than a half-dozen family members who passed away a few years ago from COVID) for his collected play. “It was just fun out there.”

I flashed back to another Towns quote, from a different win over the Spurs: “Damn, don’t it look good to see ‘Champions’ on a shirt?” Online trolls, naturally, clowned him for the comment.

Perhaps all the doubt, all the hate, have polished the rough edges off of KAT. As we acknowledged up front, he’s not perfect.³ No one is. But unusually, as the lights have gotten brighter, his flaws are becoming increasingly hard to find.

KAT was never an underdog, which led to immense expectations and early let-downs. Now, finally, he’s no longer underappreciated.

[Note: I have a whole lot more thoughts on Game 1, including Jalen Brunson’s wild game, what the Spurs can do differently, and more! You can hear them on RealGM Radio at YouTube, Spotify, Apple Pods, or anywhere else.]

1. You want to know, so here: KAT, Devin Booker, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles, Tyler Ulis, Andrew and Aaron Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Alex Poythress

2. A change in ownership may have had something to do with that, too

3. Although he did win the league’s social justice award in 2024 for his work in voting rights and health equity, so that’s cool