Two very different nights for Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle
Julius Randle of the Minnesota Timberwolves passes the ball against the New York Knicks in the second quarter at Target Center on December 19, 2024. Credit: Getty Images
MINNEAPOLIS
In the Timberwolves' locker room after the game, Anthony Edwards was speaking loudly and to no one in particular as he shouted about his friend and mentor and now opponent: “He showed you who he is. Karl-Anthony Towns. The number one overall pick.”
And at the same time, Julius Randle showed you who he is, hurrying out of the locker room without a word after declining interviews in the wake of the Knicks' 133-107 victory over Minnesota.
Randle had plenty of time to process this loss. The game clearly was over after a 31-2 Knicks run spanning six minutes of the first and second quarters. After a hot start, his intensity went from a lion to a kitten, a fitting drop on a night when the Target Center was filled with signs of love for KAT, the longtime standard-bearer for the franchise who was dealt for Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.
Randle left the floor without a handshake or hug for his former teammates. When he exited the locker room — the route to the exit goes right by the visitors' locker room — he slipped on his sunglasses at nearly midnight and rushed past the Knicks' employees without slowing down.
Maybe you didn’t need this game to settle the score. The Knicks are 17-10 and Towns, averaging 25.0 points and a league-leading 14.2 rebounds per game, is earning MVP votes in the first ESPN straw poll. He has fit in smoothly in New York with none of the familiar mood swings that marked Randle’s five-year tenure with the Knicks.
Even after this game, this night that clearly was his night, when the crush of cameras and recorders invaded the cramped locker room, Towns pointed them first to Jalen Brunson, saying, “He’s the captain.”
Would Randle have accepted that secondary role to Brunson, who emerged as a star when Randle was sidelined last season? Maybe he would have, but the Knicks didn’t seem to think so, declining his overtures for a contract extension in the summer.
Randle’s production has dipped in Minnesota and the Timberwolves might not care, because they haven’t offered up an extension either. There already are rumblings that he could be moved before the trade deadline, but he can become a free agent at season’s end anyway. DiVincenzo, the other major piece of the deal, doesn’t carry the baggage Randle does but has not yet found the production he did with the Knicks.
The best of Randle, the fire that the Knicks have seemed to miss at times this season, was on display early in Thursday night's game. He dominated the action with 15 first-quarter points, talking to himself, the fans and the Knicks' bench as he attacked. And the worst was on display, too, as he took shot after shot, letting Edwards, the true No. 1 on the team, seem lost.
And when the Knicks took over, Randle disappeared, invisible in the action, sulking and silent and then exiting the court as Brunson and others looked around for him to offer a word.
Towns, even with the excitement, looked to pass more than shoot early, waiting his turn and eventually finishing with 32 points, 20 rebounds and six assists. The only fans left at the end were those of the Knicks and those who’d come to see Towns’ homecoming, other than Randle’s wife and son, who were seated next to Towns’ father and girlfriend in the front row.
In the Minnesota locker room, Edwards, who clearly misses his friend, had his own thoughts about what the team is left with now. “They not going to like what I say,” he said. “So I’m just going to keep it to myself.”
In the Knicks' locker room, it was a different story, and even on this night, Towns was giving flowers to his teammates.
“Just empowering me and putting me in spots to succeed,” he said. “They understood the game was a big game for me personally. It was a personal game for me, and for them to support me the way they did it meant a lot.”
There was no drama with Towns on this night, just the adoration of the city he left behind and even of his former teammates. Randle walked the tunnel alone, and maybe that was the most fitting image. You didn’t need to look at the scoreboard to know who won.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.