While Friday night marked an opportunity for Karl-Anthony Towns to get back on the court and shake some rust off, it gave him a chance to weigh in on speculation that began to circulate while he was rehabilitating a knee injury.
Towns, it was whispered, was unhappy with the Timberwolves. Reports that teams like the Warriors and Knicks were monitoring the superstar’s status hit print and a narrative started to take shape.
“I don’t go for all the shit,” Towns told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, expressing his support for the team and for first-year head coach Ryan Saunders. “I know what the real story is.”
Towns was sidelined with a knee injury in mid-December. At first the prognosis was ambiguous but the injury ended up resulting in the first extended absence of his career, a total of 15 games. Just as he began to recover, he was hit with an illness that set him back further.
While Towns recovered on the sidelines (and even the hospital), there was little to assuage Wolves fans’ concerns that their latest homegrown superstar had grown unhappy.
General manager Gerssons Rosas spoke about the team’s relationship with the 24-year-old this week and how they were all on the same page but that’s a far cry from hearing from the big man himself.
On Friday, Towns set the record straight.
“I’m here to be a Minnesota Timberwolf,” Towns said, “I’m not worried about all that nonsense. Whatever we have to deal with in house, we’ll deal with in house, but this ain’t the circus like it used to be.”
