Karl-Anthony Towns is now a member of the New York Knicks, but he still has a lot of fans in Minnesota. But maybe not much after Wednesday.
The big man returned to Target Thursday for the first time since The trade ended a nine-year stint with the Timberwolves last season. After getting the heroics, he led the Knicks in a blowout over his former team, posting 32 points and 20 rebounds in a 133-107 victory.
Such situations can be awkward at times, but the love is clearly there for a man who is the franchise’s 2nd all-time champion. The Timberwolves welcome Towns back as well 86-second video that works wellwhen the crowd began to cheer as they showed him. The seven-footer couldn’t hold back a smile.
As the cheers for the Drums rang out, the crowd had a lot of jeers for the next man we did: Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, who coached Minnesota for three years with, we would say, mixed results.
Some people are cheering for the Drums during the game, cheering for his first basket.
The baskets are coming. Towns scored his 32 points on a power-efficient 10-of-12 shooting (5-of-5 from deep), with six assists and two steals to go along with 20 rebounds. That last total was as much as the Timberwolves’ lineup combined.
The business that brought the Cities to New York was an isolated one. The Timberwolves are coming off a 56-26 season in which they reached their first Western Conference finals since 2004 and Towns was a big part of that, but the team’s front office has chosen to split his two-legged split. and Rudy Gobert in exchange for good depth in the form of Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and draft picks.
The cities themselves don’t seem happy with the move, only tweeting an ellipsis night of. He already signed an extension to be in Minnesota that hasn’t even started yet this season.
It’s been a strong start to the season for Towns, who entered Thursday averaging 24.8 points and an NBA-leading 13.9 rebounds per game while shooting 52.9% from the field and 43.9% from 3-point range.
