Getty Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves
The mysteries around Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns and his status within his current NBA team continue to mount. Now, he is claiming that his Twitter account was hacked after it was noticed that he liked a Tweet that read “#FreeKAT.”
One need not have been a Knicks fan for long to know that Towns is a person of interest in the Midtown offices because of his many connections to the organization. He was coached by Tom Thibodeau of the Knicks in Minnesota for two-and-a-half years, and his former agent with Creative Arts Agency is Leon Rose, who is now the Knicks president.
Any time Towns appears unhappy in Minnesota, it is worth noticing. So when a Twitter user going by the handle “@notglxryboy” responded to a Timberwolves tweet showing Towns celebrating with the wiseguy comment, “kat when he gets off his minnesota contract,” it was noticeable that Towns pressed the “Like” button.
Interesting like by KAT 🧐
Ah, but once Towns’ response circulated around Twitter, he quickly defaulted to the “I was hacked” defense. “Just changed my password,” Towns wrote, “We solid on here now.”
Just changed my password. We solid on here now 🔒
Towns Has Yet to Request a Trade Despite Timberwolves’ Bungling
Towns, of course, is one of the best young big men in the game. He has been in the league for seven years but will only turn 26 later in the month. He has twice been an All-Star, but struggled with injury and COVID-19 issues the past two seasons, limiting him to 85 out of 131 games. He has been off to a scorching start this season, though, averaging 23.9 points, 9.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting 50.0% from the field and 47.8% from the 3-point line.
Towns is in the third year of a five-year, $158 million contract extension that does not have an option for the final year. That means he is locked up in Minnesota for two more seasons, and will hit free agency in the summer of 2024.
The Knicks—among other teams—would like to get hold of him before that, through a trade. But Minnesota won’t look to trade Towns unless he goes to the organization and requests one, something he has not yet done, at least not in a public way.
Towns has expressed his frustration with the organization, including in September when the team abruptly fired team president Gersson Rosas and replaced him with Sachin Gupta, the fifth top front-office executive the Timberwolves have had in Towns’ seven seasons.
After that move, Towns simply tweeted, “WTF.”
KAT Has Deep Connections With the Knicks
If Towns were to ask for a trade, the belief around the league is that he would like to wind up in New York—he is originally from New Jersey—where he already has a comfort level, certainly with Rose. When Rose got the job with the Knicks last year, Towns tweeted, “Congratulations to the best agent in sports Leon Rose on this amazing opportunity with the Knicks.”
Thibodeau might be a different story. His relationship with Towns in Minnesota was rocky, as he employed a tough-love style that did not always resonate with the big guy. But Towns was 20, 21 years old then. Now that he is into his NBA prime, he might recognize that Thibs was the best coach he’s had in the league.
In fact, Thibodeau helped Towns to the only winning season of his career, when the Wolves went 47-35 in 2017-18, earning a spot in the playoffs. In the two-plus years Thibodeau coached Towns, the Timberwolves went 97-107, nearly .500 (they were .475). With the three other coaches the Wolves had in that time, the team went 88-172, a winning mark of .338.
But if Towns does get to a point where he puts the “#FreeKAT” movement into effect, expect the Knicks to pounce. The team is not quite loaded with young talent, but there are plenty of picks on hand, with New York holding four first-rounders in the next two drafts and 13 second-rounders in the next five years. A package to get Towns to New York surely be assembled, but first he will need to ask to leave Minnesota.