Karl-Anthony Towns donates Kia to honor Flip Saunders

Karl-Anthony Towns will donate the Kia he won for being the 2015-16 NBA Rookie of the Year in honor of the late Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders.

According to NBA TV’s Kristen Ledlow, 2015-16’s unanimous Rookie of the Year Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns “will donate his Kia to the Minnesota Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on behalf of the man who selected him, Flip Saunders.”

Saunders tragically passed away at the age of 60 after battling with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Saunders was the only head coach in Timberwolves franchise history to lead the team to a winning season, the Western Conference Playoffs, and the Western Conference Finals. He remains the winningest head coach in team history.

While Towns never got to play for the man who drafted him No. 1 overall out of the University of Kentucky in the 2015 NBA Draft, it’s obvious that Saunders left a huge impact on the promising 20-year-old star player of the Timberwolves.

Towns during his press conference Monday honored the late Saunders with a commemorative pin on his jacket lapel when he was announced as the unanimous 2015-16 NBA Rookie of the Year, the fifth player to achieve that distinction.

Towns as a rookie playing for interim head coach Sam Mitchell averaged a double-double and made Minnesota an exciting young team to watch even though the Timberwolves missed the Western Conference Playoffs for the league-worst 12th straight time.

After his outstanding rookie season, Towns will emerge as arguably the best young player in the NBA. With great teammates like small forward Andrew Wiggins, wing Zach LaVine and point guard Ricky Rubio, the Timberwolves look like a team vying for serious playoff contention under new head coach Tom Thibodeau in 2016-17.

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