Four years after the Minnesota Timberwolves won 21 games in 2020-21, Karl-Anthony Towns and the Wolves were playing in the first Game 7 in franchise history, with a spot in the Western Conference Finals on the line.
They were battling the Denver Nuggets, who had won it all the year before.
Minnesota won the first two games on the road, dropped three straight, and dominated Denver by 45 points at Target Center to force a Game 7. Like every Game 7, it was a toss-up when the ball tipped. However, the Wolves were down by 15 points at halftime after Las Vegas pegged them as 4.5 underdogs. The Nuggets looked like the team they were on their championship run in 2023, and the Wolves were on the brink of elimination.
Towns had never advanced out of the first round before the Wolves swept the Phoenix Suns. Still, he wouldn’t let the Wolves lose that game. They were far too close to continuing their historic postseason run and hushing all the naysayers who preached that they couldn’t win in the playoffs with KAT on the roster.
The Timberwolves completed the largest second-half comeback in Game 7 NBA history (20*), and Towns led them to their second Western Conference Finals berth in franchise history.
“I’ve been here nine years,” Towns told reporters postgame. “I’ve talked about wanting to win and do something special with this organization. For all the failures and all the things that didn’t materialize and the disappointment … even for this moment, we get to celebrate the wins. Being here nine years, I’ve seen everything and seen it all. But to be here this year with these guys and this team after all that, it’s super special.”
After years of defeat and criticism, KAT registered a team-high 23 points and pulled in 12 rebounds on 8 of 14 from the floor and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in Game 7. He was efficient and made timely buckets after shooting 4 of 7 from the floor in Game 3, 5 of 18 in Game 4, and 4 of 10 in Game 6. 13 of his points game in the first half, and eight of them right out of halftime – two crucial points in the game.
He also limited Nikola Jokić to 17 points on 6 of 11 shooting in 9:49 minutes after Jokić hung 40 points on the Wolves in Game 5. There was nothing pundits could say that night. They bashed KAT for not being a playoff winner; he led his team further than they had been in 20 years. They bashed him for not being a capable defender; he successfully contained a three-time MVP in a win-or-go-home playoff game.
Fans smiled ear to ear as they watched Towns sit next to Anthony Edwards and address the media. They acted like inseparable brothers, ready to bring the first NBA championship to the Twin Cities. However, little did fans know KAT would play only five more games before his nine-year career with the Wolves would come to an end.
Friday night, The Atheltic’s Shams Charania made the blockbuster announcement:
In sending Towns to the New York Knicks, where he reunites with Tom Thibodeau, the Timberwolves receive three-time All-Star Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop – who the Wolves drafted No. 48 in 2018 – and a first-round pick from the Detroit Pistons in a three-team trade that also involves the Charlotte Hornets.
Towns reported to Mayo Clinic Square on September 25. Minnesota’s social media team posted a photo of Edwards giving Towns a brotherly hug. A few days later, KAT was seen in a Target Center suite, along with Daishen Nix and Josh Minott, cheering on the Minnesota Lynx in the playoffs.
Excitement was building with training camp less than a week away. Most of the roster was in Minneapolis as they got set for the beginning of the most anticipated season in recent history.
Until Friday, the Wolves had a relatively quiet off-season. The salary cap restricted Tim Connelly with what he could do to improve the roster, as the Wolves were already $17 million over the second apron. So he traded up to No. 8 in the draft to select Rob Dillingham and brought in Joe Ingles on a veteran’s minimum deal to replace Kyle Anderson.
But that all came crashing down just four days before training camp began.
This isn’t the first time the Wolves made a franchise-altering move in the later stages of the off-season. In 2021, the Wolves fired President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas six days before training camp after Rosas’ improprieties decayed Minnesota’s front office.
Towns was asked about the unexpected firing at media day five days later, foreshadowing another year of instability for himself and the Wolves. “I joked about it the day before,” Towns said. “I was like, ‘Man, it’s been a really quiet off-season for Minnesota. It’s very different.’ And then, boom – ensured that wasn’t left in the hat.”
KAT was deflated as he addressed the media before the 2021-22 season, and nobody could blame him. The Timberwolves had a 23-49 record the year prior, finishing in the bottom half of the NBA standings for another season. Rosas formed a roster with playoff aspirations in 2021-22. Still, nobody expected much from the Wolves. The dark cloud lingering over them for decades seemed to lighten up and give way to some distant rays of sunlight. However, the rain returned with Rosas’ firing.
“I’ve been through everything – the death of a head coach … numerous front offices and regimes,” explained Towns in 2021. “While being blessed to have so many great teammates, I also didn’t have the chance to build true relationships with anybody because there is always instability and change. … I’ve been defamed by my teammates, a scapegoat for people, COVID, and my own life. S— hasn’t been easy.”
Towns didn’t hold anything back, and he had no reason to. A year before, his mother, Jacqueline, and father, Karl Sr., were both hospitalized with COVID. Karl Sr. survived, but Jacky did not. She passed away on April. 13, 2020, at 59 years old. KAT later revealed that he lost eight family members to COVID during the pandemic.
Eight months after tragically losing his mother, Towns suited up in an empty arena and played 30 minutes for the Wolves in their 2020-21 season opener against the Pistons. One game later, he dislocated his left wrist and was forced to miss six straight games. Then, after two games back in the lineup, he contracted COVID and missed two months.
Towns lost 50 pounds during that time.
“I’m a high-risk case,” Towns said in 2021. “COVID did not treat me well whatsoever. A lot of scary nights.”
The Wolves were 6-18 when Towns returned on February 10. KAT was on a bottom-feeding team for the fifth time in six years. The cloud was darker than ever, and the rain was pouring down on the franchise. Seven games after Towns recovered from COVID, Rosas fired Ryan Saunders and immediately replaced him with Chris Finch, whom Gerrson had a connection with when they worked for the Houston Rockets in 2010.
Towns could have forced his way out of Minnesota and onto a contending team. He had many opportunities before being locked up with the Wolves long-term, and no one would blame him if he did. The Wolves weren’t a stable franchise, and the front office struggled to acquire winning players to build around KAT. But professionalism meant more to Towns.
“The only thing that is constant is me being a constant professional,” said Towns at media day in 2021. “I am never going to change my ways to fit an agenda or narratives that people have for me or want me to be. I am always going to continue to be me. At the end of the day, I am going to be a professional through everything.”
From Day 1, KAT felt he had an obligation to fill in Minnesota. Flip Saunders, who passed away three days before Karl’s rookie season, played a big role in the Wolves selecting Towns No. 1 overall in 2015. “[Flip] gave me the chance to play in Minnesota, and I am forever grateful to the Saunders family,” said Towns. “I owe them my life, in a way.”
As challenging as it was, Towns remained the ultimate professional in the locker room and the community. In 2021, he started an annual coat drive in the Twin Cities, which gave over 600 coats to those in need each year – one of the many community outreach efforts he was involved in. Karl genuinely cared about the well-being of others and adopted Minnesota as his second home, even when the franchise’s trajectory was unknown.
He always made time for the fans, especially during pregame warm-ups. Before games, players try their best to lock in, and some will run past the fans who hang over the tunnel banister in hopes of getting an autograph, picture, and simply just a high five. But not KAT. It didn’t matter if he was in a slump, being slandered by national media, or not healthy. If Karl took the floor to get shots up pregame, he would take the time with fans and give them autographs.
The smiles and tears of joy on the faces of the young fans were priceless after getting a high five or autograph. A three-second interaction with an NBA star creates lifelong memories and, more importantly, a role model for the next generation.
Minnesota ultimately replaced Rosas with Connelly in 2022, who rewarded Towns for everything he had done on and off the court by extending him to a four-year, $224 contract in 2022. He became one of the most expensive players in the NBA, but it was a price tag that Towns earned and showed how much the franchise valued him as a player and person. However, that extension was the ultimate reason he would only last two more years in Minneapolis.
Towns’ supermax contract is just now going into effect. He will make $49.2 million this year, then $53.1 million in 2025-26, $57.1 million in 2026-27, and $61 million in 2027-28. It is the price that teams must pay to keep their star players around. Still, the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement makes it far more difficult to keep more than two max players on a roster, with severe penalties given to teams that remain over the second apron for more than one season.
A move of this nature isn’t that surprising, but the timing of it is. The Wolves couldn’t keep Towns, Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid on the roster long-term. Parting ways with KAT’s contract makes the most sense as Minnesota is gearing up to build around Edwards and keep their championship-contending window open longer.
The NBA is a business; if there is one trade to signify that, it would be this one. Towns is headed to a new team four days before training camp after nine years in Minnesota. He was reportedly stunned and is still trying to process the move. After everything that KAT went through in Minnesota, and always remaining a Hall of Fame human in everything he did, surprising him with a blockbuster trade in September isn’t the send-off he deserved.
It can be easy to remember the egregious leg kicks, complaining to the referees, or foul trouble that came during Towns’ 605 games in a Timberwolves uniform. But all the good he did in the community – not to mention four All-Star selections, making an All-NBA team twice, and recording the second-most points in franchise history – mitigate the negatives. KAT built a legacy in the Twin Cities. His on-court accolades speak for themself. Still, there is no measurable statistic for the everlasting impression he left on the state of Minnesota.
While Towns came up short in his goal of hanging a championship banner on the Wolves’ side of the Target Center rafters, a No. 32 banner should hang proudly right next to Flip’s banner. It is only right for a player who gave his all to the franchise for nearly a decade.
As we reflect on KAT’s career with the Wolves, weighing the bad and the good, the least fans can do is thank him for a memorable nine years in the upper Midwest and appreciate what he meant to the Timberwolves franchise. He stuck it out through thick and thin, with most of the journey being thin. He always showed up to work with a smile and helped turn the Wolves into a title contender after nearly 20 years of heavy rain over Target Center.
*An earlier post misidentified the number of points the Wolves came back from. We regret the error.
