TARRYTOWN, N.Y. -- When the Knicks traded for New Jersey native Karl-Anthony Towns last month, nobody was happier than his father, “Big Karl” Towns.
The senior Towns, who played basketball at Monmouth and once tried out for the Knicks, knew it would be a lot easier to watch his son play in person in New York (and in the Eastern Conference) than in Minnesota (and the Western Conference).
“Now, instead of taking plane rides, I’ll take car rides,” Big Karl, who said he was not available for an interview for this story, told The Asbury Park Press last month. “I’ll be up and down the Turnpike, but I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.”
With the Knicks set to open the 2024-25 NBA season Tuesday night in Boston against the defending champion Celtics followed by their home opener Friday against the Pacers, the elder Towns won’t be hard to find. He figures to be a regular fixture at his son’s games -- and KAT wouldn’t have it any other way.
“He was a high school coach, a damn good one too in Jersey [at] Piscataway Vo-Tech [for 15 years],” Towns said Monday after practice. “And just being with him every single day, just watching him coach and just garnering IQ every single day, learning the right way to play the game of basketball and ways you could help your team win and the way he taught me. So that’s a shout-out to my father and the man who taught me the game of basketball at this level.”
Big Karl, now the head coach at Karl’s alma mater St. Joe’s-Metuchen, has had an impact on dozens of former players, helping to transform them into men.
“To see the effect he had on those kids and how he built those guys who walked in as high school kids and made them men by the time they left, and how much thanks they give him for helping them in their lives, it speaks to him not only being a great X’s and O’s guy obviously in basketball but the guy who he is,” KAT said. “Even though he was my father, to a lot of these men now in the world, they look at him as their second father and he’s the guy that they look at as their father so I’m just fortunate that my blood is from him.”
Big Karl said he plans to bring his St. Joe’s players to the Timberwolves-Knicks game this season, and KAT hopes to attend some of his father’s games and make his own impact on the younger players.
“I definitely want to be able to utilize the experiences I have at this level, and help those kids garner college scholarships and obviously possibly be in this position as well,” Towns said Monday. “So I’ll do whatever I can to help those kids become men.”
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The bond between Towns and his father grew even stronger after Jackie Cruz Towns passed of COVID in 2020. The practice court at Kean University is dedicated to her.
On Mother’s Day in 2021, Big Karl was captured on video consoling his son during a game in Orlando.
Towns said the Knicks always held a special place in his mom’s heart.
“The Knicks was different because my mom [Jackie] when she immigrated over from the DR, she always went to the Knicks games and the Knicks were one of the few teams that gave my dad [Karl Sr.] a chance in the NBA as well,” Towns told Shannon Sharpe on the Shay Shay Podcast.
Big Karl said Jackie would have loved seeing her son play for the Knicks.
“She would be happy because her baby is back home – he’s back home where he started,” Karl Sr told the Asbury Park Press. “She’s in heaven ecstatic.”
Now that Towns has been reunited with his former coach Tom Thibodeau in New York, the coach seems pretty ecstatic about having him as his starting center.
Last season Towns averaged 19.1 points and 9.0 rebounds as the Wolves reached the Western Conference Finals.
The former No. 1 pick is a four-time NBA All-Star and was the Rookie of the Year in 2016. He won the Three-Point Contest in 2022. In March 2022, he scored 60 points in a game against the San Antonio Spurs.
“I think his skillset speaks for itself,” Thibodeau said Monday in response to a question from NJ Advance Media. “When you look at what he’s done over a long period of time in the league, he’s an elite shooting big which allows you to play five out and he’s a very good pick-and-roll player.
“But I think he also the ability to put it on the floor, run the floor, play back-to-the-basket, face-up, put bigs at at a big disadvantage. And we can play off that and oftentimes, his passing gets overlooked. And then defensively, the rebounding and the rim protection, we think he can do that.”
With Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa down with injuries, the coach also wants to see KAT hit the boards.
“What gets overlooked with KAT is his rebounding and I think he can take that to a whole different, so we’re going to ask him to do a lot,” Thibodeau said.
And his father will be along for the ride, proudly cheering on his son at every step.
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.