Karl-Anthony Towns has been nothing short of a superstar in his first 10 weeks with the New York Knicks.
Across his first 32 games with the team since being traded over from the Minnesota Timberwolves over the summer, the 29-year-old is averaging 24.9 points per game with a career-high 13.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and nearly one block.
He posted his third-straight 30-point game on New Year’s Day at Madison Square Garden against the Utah Jazz, dropping 31 points on 10-of-20 shooting (3-of-6 from three-point range) with 21 rebounds and four assists.
The 119-103 victory was the Knicks’ ninth straight, as they continue to click on all cylinders to move to 14 games over .500 (24-10, No. 3 seed in the East).
Towns has obviously played a major role in that, creating a fearsome front-line attack that also boasts Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges. His versatile game has created logistical nightmares for opposing defenses. He not only shoots nearly 60% on two-point attempts, but he is shooting a robust and career-high 44% on three-pointers this season.
“When you play against Towns, it’s way more of a mental battle,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “The threes are loud, but the reality is that he took 20 shots, and only six of them were threes. It’s not like he bombed away and shot 14 of them. That’s where he does a good job, and that’s where I think [Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau] is doing a really good job with Towns with the mixture.
“But when he makes two [three-pointers in a row] like he did in the first half, it warps your brain, and you think, ‘Oh man, he’s killing us with the threes.’ Then you look at the end of the game, and he has 31 points and nine of them from three. That wasn’t why. But it does create an element of overreacting. Now you start going for his shot fake. When he’s going downhill, he’s tough to cover… he’s a tough cover, but the reason why he’s a tough cover is because he tests your mental discipline.
Towns continues to play with the freedom that he did not necessarily get during his early years in the NBA with the Timberwolves when Thibodeau coached him from 2016 to 2019. The center averaged fewer than two three-point attempts per game across each of those three seasons.
“He’s different. I like this version going into 2025. You see him smile,” Towns said of Thibodeau. “I’ve grown since the time when we were together in Minnesota; he’s grown. The game of life, we’re just finding ourselves getting better with time.”
