Karl-Anthony Towns. #PROLOOKintheNBA
For Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, it’s all about relationships. Towns’ emphasis on relationships has been thrust into the spotlight through the COVID-19 pandemic that has put significant strain on many of our relationships.
Towns began his career at St. Joseph High School in New Jersey where he became one of the top players in the country. He led his team to a state championship his freshman season through dominant play, leading to him being ranked in ESPN’s Top 25 players. He continued to dominate his sophomore year and junior seasons, leading St. Joseph to three total straight New Jersey state championships, going three for three in his time there while being named Gatorade National Player of the year.
Towns then went on to play for the storied Kentucky University basketball program. During the 2014-15 season, he helped the Wildcats, largely considered one of the greatest teams of all time, go 38-1, earning himself All-American honors.
Following a stellar NCAA tournament in which the Wildcats made the Final Four, the Kentucky center was picked first overall in the 2015 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. His NBA career has been deserving of that number one pick, having been named the 2016 Rookie of the Year, an all-star in three of his seven seasons, winning the 2022 three-point contest, and most recently becoming the first center to score 60 points in a game since Shaq did so in 2000.
Despite his successful career, basketball is not what is most important to Towns, relationships are. At his St. Joseph jersey retirement ceremony in October 2021, he took a moment to honor his late mother, Jacqueline, who passed away from COVID-19 in 2020, bringing everyone to the seat she used to sit in to watch all of his games.
Following Towns’ recent 60 point outburst, he once again made it clear just how much his relationship with his mother has meant to him. “Yesterday was two years to the date that my parents walked into the ER at JFK Medical Center in Edison, NJ and were admitted with COVID-19. The same hospital that my mother gave me life, and tragically, the same hospital where I saw her life begin to slip away. Two years later, I walked into AT&T Center with the greatest guardian angel that I could ever ask for and dropped 60 against the winningest coach of all time… No matter what life throws at you, you can come out of it stronger. Tough times don’t last, tough people do. Miss you Momma. This game….my life…is for you.”
#BuiltBetter #LiveYourGame #PROLOOK
