Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler is still months away from getting back on the court, but one of his longest-running NBA feuds has resurfaced.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ family took multiple shots at Butler in a wide-ranging September 30 feature from The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski detailing Towns’ journey from years of criticism to helping the New York Knicks win the 2026 NBA championship.
The most pointed remark came from Towns’ father, Karl Towns Sr., who made it clear he has not forgotten the criticism his son endured during and after Butler’s turbulent tenure with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“It only hurt me as a father to hear people saying stuff that was negative that wasn’t true to bring him down,” Towns Sr. told The Athletic. “But in the end, it all paid up. Jimmy ain’t got no championship. Karl bypassed him.”
But he wasn’t the only member of Towns’ inner circle who appeared to have Butler on his mind.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ Family Sends Message to Jimmy Butler
Towns’ wife, Jordyn Woods-Towns, also addressed how public perception of the longtime Butler-Towns feud has changed following the Knicks’ championship.
“Now the Jimmy narrative’s very different,” Woods-Towns told The Athletic. “But it only took, what, almost a decade?”
The comments are striking considering how heavily the narrative once favored Butler.
Butler and Towns were teammates in Minnesota from 2017 until Butler was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in November 2018. Their final months together became one of the NBA’s most infamous player-team standoffs.
The Athletic recalled Butler’s frustration with Towns and Andrew Wiggins, his trade demand and the explosive practice that helped turn the situation into a national story. Towns, meanwhile, largely avoided publicly engaging Butler.
“I just was never going to change who I was, even when the world was asking me to change who I was, so I could be the character in their story,” Towns told The Athletic. “I just was going to continue to be me.”
Butler went on to reach the NBA Finals twice with the Miami Heat, but has yet to win a championship.
Towns now has one.
The Athletic put the reversal in especially stark terms after recounting the final seconds of New York’s championship-clinching Game 5 victory over the San Antonio Spurs: “The final score was Karl-Anthony Towns 1, Jimmy Butler 0.”
Towns Gets Last Laugh After Years of Butler Comparisons
Towns’ championship has dramatically altered the backdrop of a debate that followed both players after their split in Minnesota.
Butler’s success after leaving the Timberwolves was frequently juxtaposed with Minnesota’s struggles. The Wolves eventually broke through with Towns, reaching the 2024 Western Conference finals before trading him to New York ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Towns helped the Knicks reach the Eastern Conference finals during his first season in New York before helping deliver the franchise’s first championship since 1973 the following year.
Andrew Wiggins, another frequent target during Butler’s Minnesota fallout, also beat Butler to a championship when he won the 2022 NBA title as a member of the Warriors.
“I’m just happy that those back-to-back Rookies of the Year in Minnesota grew into the men that people asked us to be, which was world champions,” Towns told The Athletic of himself and Wiggins. “And we found a way to get it done in our own ways.”
Jimmy Butler Still Chasing First Championship With Warriors
Butler’s opportunity to answer Towns’ camp on the court will have to wait.
The 37-year-old is rehabbing the knee injury that ended his 2025-26 season and is expected to miss the beginning of Golden State’s upcoming campaign. At Warriors media day on September 28, Butler said he had progressed to running and dunking and remains confident he will return at a high level.
“I know that I will return still being able to play at a high level,” Butler said, according to NBA.com.
Golden State enters the 2026-27 season trying to make another Western Conference playoff push around Stephen Curry, Butler, Draymond Green and Kristaps Porzingis.
And after nearly a decade in which Butler appeared to have the upper hand in one of the NBA’s most enduring personal narratives, Towns’ championship has given his family an opportunity to fire back.
They are taking it.
Warriors Star Jimmy Butler Gets Called Out by Karl-Anthony Towns’ Family