Karl-Anthony Towns will return tonight to what was his first (and until October, only) home in the NBA. The New York Knicks will visit the Target Center to face the Timberwolves, giving the center the opportunity to reunite with his old fans, a reunion from which he is not entirely clear what kind of reaction to expect.
“Don’t know. The only thing I know is that every time I put on the Timberwolves shirt I gave everything I had even if I wasn’t 100%,” he commented in a statement to Stefan Bondy, a journalist for the New York Post. «I gave them everything of me mentally, physically and spiritually. “I spent nine years there, so I will return with great pride and with great joy for all the memories I have.”
«The last time I was there, I gave everything I could give and I even found myself drawing strength from where I didn’t know I had it. I am proud of the image I gave as a Timberwolves player. “You never know how the fans are going to react, but I know what I did for that franchise and I am happy and proud of what I accomplished.”
An ambivalent relationship
The truth is that, seen from the outside, Towns’ relationship with his fans was somewhat complex in recent years. For many years he was perceived as the head of the project, but the emergence of Anthony Edwards not only moved him to second place, but in some way turned him into a kind of scapegoat on whom to cast the blame, something that became especially visible in the last playoffs. The center, who was irregular as usual, received a lot of criticism in the defeats and was pointed out on many occasions as the problem, without necessarily recognizing how much he contributed and his importance to the team.
Curiously, this is something that is perhaps being perceived better this year, in which, in his absence, the team has not finished refueling. Minnesota has gone from boasting a 20-5 balance a year ago to a 14-11 that leaves many more doubts regarding its ability to fight with the best in the West, although with a streak of six victories in the last seven games finally begins to show good manners.
(Cover photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
