Karl-Anthony Towns has more than fulfilled Knicks' expectations

GREENBURGH–Twenty-four games played. Twenty-four games started. Thirty-four point three minutes per game. Twenty-four point eight points per game. Thirteen point nine rebounds per game. Three point three assists per game. One blocked shot per game. Zero point nine steals per game.

These numbers comprise Karl-Anthony Towns’ nightly production and that data speaks to the quality of the 29-year-old’s performances thus far this season.

But has Towns exceeded the Knicks expectations? It was a question posed to Tom Thibodeau following practice Tuesday at the MSG Training Center.

His answer could be called Thibodeau’s theory of Towns’ evolution.

“I guess I had pretty high expectations for him,” Thibodeau said. “When I had him as a young player [in Minnesota], I knew he was a great rebounder then, and I felt he'd be able to adapt to going back to the center position. And then the offense…whatever you asked him to do, he's always done. Whether playing five-out, away from the basket, you can play him back to the basket, put it on the floor. I'd say he's probably a better passer now than he was then. He sees things a lot earlier. I think the double-team he's more comfortable with and knowing, 'OK, he's coming from here, that means there's easy offense on the backside.’

“I think he knows the players a lot better, his opponents. I think that helps, and he knows how teams are going to defend him, and then just playing off of his teammates. I think he's adapted quite well, but I think he's gone through that. This league is a lot of changes. I think when Minnesota made the trade for Rudy [Gobert], that changed what he was doing, and he adapted very well to that.”

Indeed, when Minnesota acquired Gobert from the Utah Jazz on July 6, 2022, Towns was shifted from center to power forward as part of a plan in which the Timberwolves employed a frontcourt with the two seven-footers.

“I got more I could give and do and play better,” Towns said, when asked if the 2024-25 season is the best he has played in his 10-year NBA career. “I'm in a different role. It's just like I said before, I just want to be a superstar in my role, whatever that role may be for our team. I was asked to be the five here and I just want to be the best I could be."

The Knicks, who are 16-10 overall and have won seven-of-10, have been delighted with Towns since acquiring him in a blockbuster trade from the Timberwolves (14-11) that sent Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota.

“I’m sure he’s had [impressive] stretches before but, yeah, he impresses us every day,” OG Anunoby said of Towns, who could represent the Knicks in San Francisco come All-Star Weekend in mid-February. “He’s a great teammate.”