The Whiteboard: Karl-Anthony Towns has reached a new level
By Ti Windisch
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Karl-Anthony Towns had a quiet start to the 2018-19 NBA season, which is the absolute last thing the Minnesota Timberwolves needed. Dealing with the fallout of the toxic Jimmy Butler situation and eventually, the fallout of trading Butler was obviously tough for the Wolves, who just needed something to go right.
In Towns, they have found that something and then some. As the season has gone on, Towns has become an absolute monster that teams just have no way to deal with. He wasn’t bad, per se, to start off the year, but now he’s become one of the absolute best big men in the league.
From October through the end of December, Towns averaged 21.7 points, 12.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.9 blocks per game, and he shot 48.8 percent from the field and 48.8 percent from 3-point range. Not bad by any means, but there were certainly some quiet games scattered in for Towns.
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In 2019, he’s been far less quiet. Towns has been unstoppable, averaging 28.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.4 blocks per game on 55.9 percent field goal shooting and 43.0 percent 3-point shooting.
The Wolves had had three separate three-win streaks in 2019, although the wins aren’t coming consistently for Towns and his team yet. If the Wolves can somehow solve the Andrew Wiggins problem and add more talent to the roster it doesn’t seem like they can be that far out.
Karl-Anthony Towns is just 23 years old, and he still has a lot to figure out about the NBA. For him to be this good this quickly is a great positive sign for Minnesota, which desperately needed something positive to take away from this season. Good for the Wolves, and good for Towns.
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