{"id":1984861,"date":"2026-06-11T16:20:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T13:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1984861"},"modified":"2026-06-11T16:20:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T13:20:05","slug":"do-the-basketball-gods-have-a-different-plan-for-karl-anthony-towns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1984861","title":{"rendered":"Do the basketball gods have a different plan for Karl-Anthony Towns?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s a few days after Christmas in 2017, and the Minnesota Timberwolves have just blown a 20-point lead to the Milwaukee Bucks, snapping a five-game winning streak. Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau is frustrated as he speaks outside his team\u2019s locker room inside the BMO Harris Bradley Center. His young team had just blown a game it should have won. Inside the locker room, Karl-Anthony Towns, then in his third NBA season, explained that the reason his Timberwolves lost on this cold Midwestern night was, in part, due to a higher power.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou play with fire too much, the basketball gods don\u2019t like that,\u201d Towns said that night<\/a>. \u201cWe could have did a lot of things differently to win this game, especially with the lead that we had, but we played with fire one too many times, and it burnt us.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a curious answer from a young player still trying to find his way night after night in the meat grinder of an 82-game regular season. Instead of blaming defensive breakdowns and mental lapses, the 22-year-old chalked it up to forces beyond his team\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

A few moments later, in front of Jimmy Butler\u2019s locker, a small group of reporters asked the All-Star forward if there was any merit to Towns\u2019 theory that part of the reason the Timberwolves didn\u2019t win was that the \u201cbasketball gods\u201d didn\u2019t want them to.<\/p>\n

Butler, in his first season with the Timberwolves, paused for a moment before offering a short answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext question,\u201d the All-Star forward said.<\/p>\n

Almost nine years later, Towns, now 30, sits just one win away from the New York Knicks\u2019 first NBA championship in 53 years. Alongside Jalen Brunson, he has become one of the most important players on an NBA Finals team and is in the midst of a career-altering stretch that could forever change the narrative that has followed him for much of his NBA career.<\/p>\n

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Back then, however, the perception around Towns was very different.<\/p>\n

It had only been a few months since Butler arrived in Minnesota after an offseason trade from the Chicago Bulls, but the fit between him and the Timberwolves\u2019 prized young core of Towns and Andrew Wiggins was not going smoothly. There was never a question about the pair\u2019s talent. As former No. 1 picks, Towns and Wiggins regularly displayed the type of skills that set them apart.<\/p>\n

The question from Butler, and many others in and around the organization at the time, was whether either player was willing to put in the requisite work to become the kind of championship-level stars their talent suggested they could be. After Butler\u2019s news conference ended that night, he turned to a Timberwolves PR staffer with a question of his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo y\u2019all have media training here?\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n

The PR person said they did.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you get that big motherf\u2014er some media training?\u201d Butler replied. \u201cBasketball gods?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Butler shook his head with a combination of disbelief and frustration and headed out of the locker room shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n

The exchange offered a glimpse into how many people viewed Towns during much of his career, especially the early years. The talent was there, but questions about his maturity, toughness and ability to win at the highest level lingered. Even as he evolved into one of the league\u2019s most gifted big men, the labels followed him.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"As<\/p>\n
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\n As Karl-Anthony Towns pushes for an NBA title, Minnesota watches with pride\n <\/div>\n
\n “He’s playing the best Karl basketball right now. He’s meant for this,” said Maggie Schultz, a longtime Timberwolves fan rooting for Towns.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Towns\u2019 path to the finals mimics the one Wiggins walked four years ago, when Wiggins became the second-best player on a Stephen Curry-led Golden State Warriors team that beat the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. In a new setting, surrounded by a different culture and different expectations, Wiggins elevated his game when his new team needed him most \u2014 to the tune of 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds a game in 22 playoff contests, all of which he started, averaging about 35 minutes a game.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves always believed Wiggins possessed that level of ability. What they never saw consistently was that version of him when the stakes were high. Towns is following in those same footsteps.<\/p>\n

As No. 1 picks, both were expected to become the player everything revolved around. Instead, Wiggins and Towns found something else: a chance to thrive alongside another superstar and remind everyone why they were so highly regarded in the first place.<\/p>\n

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The difference is that Towns, in his 11th NBA season, entered the league with greater expectations and built a more decorated resume. A six-time NBA All-Star, Towns has averaged 22.8 points and 11.1 rebounds a game over his career and established himself as one of the best offensive centers the NBA has ever seen. Yet, so much of the conversation surrounding him focused on what he hadn\u2019t done rather than what he accomplished. Now he has an opportunity to challenge those beliefs on the sport\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n

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Towns comes into Game 5 averaging 16.7 points, 10.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists during the postseason. He was the aggressor over the first two games, both Knicks wins, in his matchup against 22-year-old San Antonio Spurs\u2019 sensation Victor Wembanyama. As Wiggins did during Golden State\u2019s title run, Towns has lifted the level of his own game at various points in the postseason.<\/p>\n

The problem for Towns is that Game 3 \u2014 and much of Game 4 \u2014 reinforced the labels that have followed him throughout his career. He scored just 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting in Game 3, then battled foul trouble for much of Game 4 before finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes. Still, as Wiggins did before him, Towns came through in the biggest moments. His five fourth-quarter points helped fuel the Knicks\u2019 comeback from 29 down, and his defensive tip of a Dylan Harper inbounds pass with 1.2 seconds remaining preserved one of the most memorable finals games ever played.<\/p>\n

Labels can change, but consistency is what usually changes them.<\/p>\n

These are the same lessons that Wiggins offered skeptics four years ago during his own title run. Sometimes a change of scenery can make the difference. Sometimes a player needs different teammates or coaches. Sometimes he needs a different set of expectations to become the best version of himself. In this case, it was two talented players \u2014 who once stood at the top of their respective draft classes \u2014 who eventually reminded everybody just how good they were. It just took a little longer than expected.<\/p>\n

The opportunity remains in front of Towns. Will he follow it? With one more win \u2014 and one more strong performance \u2014 Towns will live in Knicks history forever as one of the central figures behind this franchise\u2019s first title in more than five decades.<\/p>\n

Not bad for a guy who once blamed a loss on the basketball gods.<\/p>\n

With one more win,<\/strong> he\u2019ll be a New York basketball god himself. Without it, some of the narratives that have followed him throughout his career will become even harder to shake.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a few days after Christmas in 2017, and the Minnesota Timberwolves have just blown a 20-point lead to the Milwaukee Bucks, snapping a five-game winning streak. Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau is frustrated as he speaks outside his team\u2019s locker room inside the BMO Harris Bradley Center. His young team had just blown a game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1984861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1984861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984861\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1984861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1984861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1984861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}