Karl Anthony-Towns: Shocking changes to his national narrative
By Evan Smith
A taste of success
Following his first two years in the NBA, expectations quickly skyrocketed after the Timberwolves pulled the trigger on the infamous trade for perennial All-Star wing Jimmy Butler. Having a trio of Butler, Wiggins, and Towns, the Wolves were looked at as a playoff team for the first time in what may have seemed like an eternity for fans of the franchise.
A late-season injury to Butler led the team to drop from the third seed in the Western Conference all the way down to the eighth seed.
This led to a matchup against the top-seeded Houston Rockets in the first round, where the Timberwolves were only able to win one game in a gentleman’s sweep. In Towns’ first playoff series, he was only able to average 15.2 points on 46.7 percent from the field. These were significantly lower than his regular season marks of 21.3 points and 55 percent.
It was at this point in time that questions surrounding Karl-Anthony Towns, his mental toughness, and his ability to win in post-season play began to surface. The whispers even grew loud enough to trigger some media to speculate on whether or not the now All-Star veteran NBA center was truly a player capable of winning an NBA Championship.
Despite the criticism, one could be optimistic and conclude that this was simply a case of the jitters, a natural reaction from a 22-year-old playing in the biggest games throughout his young career.