Although Karl-Anthony Towns missed the cut for All-NBA honors, Minnesota Timberwolves fans should still be optimistic about him leading the franchise.
Still just 23 years old, Karl-Anthony Towns became the first NBA player since Kevin Garnett’s MVP campaign to record 1800+ points, 900+ rebounds, 250+ assists, and 125+ blocks in a season.
.@KarlTowns became the first @NBA player since KG's MVP campaign to record 1800+ points, 900+ rebounds, 250+ assists, and 125+ blocks in a season... all while shooting 40% from deep.
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 23, 2019
At 23, he's not even in his prime yet. 🙀
He's not a unicorn. He's KAT.
Even with these impressive stats, Towns was still snubbed from making any of the All-NBA teams.
Even though he didn’t make the cut this time around, Wolves fans should still be optimistic about his future leading the franchise. Although he made third team All-NBA in the 2017-18 season but missed it this season does not mean he has taken a step back. He is still capable of being the franchise player in Minnesota.
In fact, Towns actually had career highs in many categories, despite not making the cut. His 24.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.6 blocks and 0.9 steals per game were all career bests.
He also was a reliable 3-point shooter at 40.0 percent on the year. Outside of Cameron Reynolds, who only appeared in 19 games, Towns was the best 3-point shooter on the entire team.
Although Towns couldn’t make back-to-back All-NBA teams, he did make his second straight NBA All-Star appearance this year.
In the 2018-19 season, he was 7th in rebounds per game, 9th in blocks per game, and 13th in points per game in the entire NBA. Not only was he among the league leaders in many categories, but he also les the Timberwolves in games played, games started, field goal attempts, rebounds, blocks, and points on the season.
To say the least, he did it all for Minnesota in the 2018-19 season, and will continue to be the superstar player they build around for many years to come.
Not making an All-NBA team this year will costing him roughly $33 million over the next five years, as he will not meet the incentive in his contract. Not that he is the type of player that needs external motivation, but this should fuel him all offseason to get better and prove people wrong.
Karl-Anthony Towns certainly deserved All-NBA honors this season, but didn’t impress enough of the voters to put him in over Rudy Gobert. With Towns showing growth and improvement every season, we should expect another large jump in production next season from him. Fans should remain optimistic about Towns being a good enough player to be the best player on a championship team and lead a franchise.