Karl-Anthony Towns achieved one of the greatest accomplishments of his career this year. Towns was an integral part of the 2025-26 New York Knicks winning the NBA championship.
And while the uber-talented center has an extremely impressive basketball resume, this appears to be the pinnacle of his playing career — so far. Not every athlete is fully prepared to handle reaching that climax, and that’s something Towns alluded to this week.
He sat down with Jay Shetty, for an exclusive interview on the “On Purpose” podcast on Netflix. The podcast turned video series has been available as of July 13, as part of a partnership between Shetty, Netflix, and Spotify.
Towns and Shetty touched on a wide variety of topics, but the interview was titled, “How I Survived the Toughest Year of My Life”. The main purpose of the interview was to take a deeper dive into Towns’ personal struggles, dealing with the passing of his mother.
Karl-Anthony Towns Breaks Down Raw Emotions After Winning NBA Championship
Part of Towns’ conversation with Shetty, though, was focused on basketball. Shetty asked how Towns felt after winning his first NBA championship.
“The thing that’s so surprising with winning a championship is your whole life you see something, and you see this goal, and you run towards this goal, and you finally get to it, and that moment goes by so quick. And next thing you know, you’re like, what’s next?” Towns said.
Towns and the Knicks won the NBA championship in five games, clinching their victory on the road against the San Antonio Spurs. He gave a more detailed look into the whirlwind of emotions he experience the coming days after the championship victory.
“We won the championship on Saturday. We were back home Sunday morning. We flew back right after the game. And by Sunday afternoon, I’m like what’s next?”
Basketball is Life for Karl-Anthony Towns
After being drafted with the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft and winning the Rookie of the Year, it’s clear the six-time All-Star’s passion is basketball. He spoke to exactly that, saying he didn’t know how to handle having no more basketball on his schedule following their championship victory.
“There’s no more basketball to be played. I still worked out after winning the championship. I was like, I can’t stop, there’s no way after being so locked in and turned up about playing basketball, it’s just something I can’t comprehend. And any NBA player, any football player, any professional athlete, I think they understand what I’m gonna say, which is that first week out of competition is so tough because you gotta in essence, find yourself again. It’s not as easy as it sounds, to just go on vacation and stuff. The vacation, the first two days it feels awkward to be there,” Towns said.
The 11-year NBA veteran will enter his third season with the Knicks in 2026-27. He has one year remaining on a four-year, $220 million contract before his player option will kick-in. And even though he apparently found time for a vacation and non-basketball activities like WWE’s Main Event, Towns and the Knicks appear to be prepared to defend their title.
Karl-Anthony Towns Reveals Emotions Following Championship Victory During Jay Shetty Interview