Karl-Anthony Towns

Karl-Anthony Towns: biography

Karl-Anthony Towns is a Dominican-American professional basketball player working for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA) at a center position in the box of defense. Earlier he performed for the Kentucky Wildcats. In his career, the sportsman got a considerable amount of awards.

He was called 2014 Gatorade Player of the Year, a second-team All-American by the Associated Press and NABC, and a third-team All-American by Sporting News, NBA Rookie of the Month, Western Conference Rookie of the Month, a Western Conference All-Star reserve. He won 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge, got Western Conference Player of the Week honors for games and many other awards.

Childhood and youth

Karl-Anthony Towns was born November 15, 1995, in Edison, New Jersey. His father, Karl Towns Sr., is African; his mother Jacqueline Cruz is from the Dominican Republic. His parents were strict and made Towns read and study at least 2 hours a day.

The future sportsman passed his childhood in Piscataway, New Jersey. He studied at the Lake Nelson Seventh-Day Adventist School. Later, in 2009, he entered Theodore Schor Middle School from Our Lady of Fatima School. Being a student, Karl liked journalism and was a school reporter.

Towns' father played basketball in the Monmouth University team. Obviously, he gave his love for the sport to the son.

Basketball career

Being a freshman at St. Joseph High School, Towns helped the team to participate in the state championship in 2012 and therefore got the high position in the ESPN 25 national ranking of high school players. Also, Towns led the team to state titles in 2013 and 2014.

At the age of 16, Karl-Anthony was selected to Dominican Republic national basketball team. Although Towns wasn't dweller of the Dominican Republic, he had the right to play for this country because of his mother.

During the competitions in 2011-2012, John Calipari was the team's coach. As a result, the players managed to finish third in the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship and got a fourth place at the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men

In December 2012, Towns announced his decision to play for the Kentucky Wildcats.

In 2014, Towns graduated from school.

On 6 January 2013, Towns made a quadruple-double with 16 points, 17 rebounds, 11 blocks, and 11 assists. The next quadruple-double he recorded was on 5 February 2014. Then he made 20 points, 14 rebounds, 12 blocks, and ten assists. Being a senior, his average results were 20.9 points, 13,4 rebounds and 6,2 blocks per game.

When Towns was a freshman, he used a unique "platoon system" which helped him improve the results: he started averaging 10.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in 21.1 minutes per game.

Besides sport, the student was interested in medicine. He studied kinesiology in one year and was going to become a doctor after his basketball career.

On 9 April 2015, Towns applied for the participation in the 2015 NBA draft.

On June 25, 2015, the team Minnesota Timberwolves selected Karl-Anthony Towns in the 2015 NBA draft. They signed on 7 July. Towns' debut NBA game for the Minnesota Timberwolves team was on October 28. In the match against Los Angeles Lakers, he recorded 14 points and 12 rebounds. The next game was on October, 30. The team played against the Denver Nuggets. Towns' perfect results (28 points, 14 rebounds) led Timberwolves to their first 2–0 start with two wins on the road in team history.

During his first 13 games of the season, Towns' average results were 16,0 points and 10,4 rebound per game. But in the next five matches, the player deteriorated them to 8,4 points and 6,0 rebounds. Nevertheless, on December 3, Karl-Anthony Towns was called Western Conference Rookie of the Month for November.

In the next games, Karl-Anthony improved his results. The game he played on 30 October was his best victory. It was the match against the Portland Trail Blazers. Towns recorded 27 points and 12 rebounds. 2 games later, on 9 December, the basketball player made 26 points and 14 rebounds in a 123–122 overtime win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

On January 20, 2016, there was the best Towns' game in the season: the team played against Dallas Mavericks, Towns recorded 27 points and 17 rebounds.

In the next match, on January 29, the player recorded 32 points and 12 rebounds and became the youngest player to make 30 points and ten rebounds in a game, since Kevin Durant did so in 2008

On 10 February, Towns scored a career-high 35 points in a 117–112 win over the Toronto Raptors.

On 27 February, in the fight against New Orleans Pelicans, the player recorded 30 points, 15 rebounds. As a result, Karl-Anthony Towns was recognized the Western Conference Rookie of the Month for February.

On 25 March, in the match against the Washington Wizards, Towns recorded ten rebounds and set a Minnesota rookie rebounding record

In the next game, on 7 April, he succeeded to make his 50th triple-double of the season, with 17 points and ten rebounds in a 105–97 win over the Sacramento Kings.

In the finale of the season, on 13 April, Towns recorded 28 points and 14 rebounds in the match with the New Orleans Pelicans

Recording brilliant average results, Towns got NBA Rookie of the Year honors.

On November 30, 2016, in the next NBA season, Karl-Anthony again showed the perfect talent and professionality: in a loss to the New York Knicks the player recorded the career maximum of 47 points and 18 rebounds. At the age of 21, Towns became the youngest basketball player in the last three decades to have more than 45 points and 15 rebounds.

On December 28, Towns recorded the first triple-double of 15 points, 11 rebounds and ten assists in the match against the Denver Nuggets. On January 19, 2017, he had 37 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists.

Towns became the only player to have at least 2000 points (he recorded 2061), 1000 rebounds (he recorded 1007) and 100 3-pointers (101) in a season.

On November 15, 2017, Towns had 26 points and 16 rebounds for Minnesota. The player was in the top 10 in almost every statistical category in NBA history. He had 8th place in points, third in rebounds and second in double-doubles (number one was Dwight Howard).

On December 14, 2017, in the game against the Sacramento Kings, the player recorded 30 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, and five blocks. He and Kevin Garnett were the only players from Wolves to have 30+ points, 10+ rebounds, 5+assists and 5+blocks per game.

On March 20, 2018, Karl-Anthony made his best 60th NBA double-double, having recorded 30 points and ten rebounds in the fight against the Los Angeles Clippers.

On 11 April 2018, Towns made 26 points and 14 rebounds in the game with the Denver Nuggets. This win helped Minnesota get to the play-off since 2004.

Towns finished 2017-2018 season with 68 double-doubles, the highest result in the NBA.

On September 23, 2018, Towns signed a contract of a five-year extension with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The team's government is not going to trade such a brilliant player. His salary is $7,839,435.

In the 2018-2019 season, Karl-Anthony Towns recorded 21 points in the fight against the Charlotte Hornets and became the fifth youngest player in the league to have 7000 points. It should be noted, that Towns is only 23 years old. Other sportsmen who succeeded to do that were Dwight David Howard, playing for the Washington Wizards (23 years and 121 days old), Kevin Wayne Durant from the Golden State Warriors and Carmelo Anthony from the Huston Rockets (both 22 years, 110 days old) and LeBron James playing for the Los Angeles Lakers (21 year, 358 days old)

In March 2019 Karl-Anthony had a crash. The accident was severe, and, according to Towns' words, it was a miracle that the sportsman is alive

At the middle of March, in the game against Washington, Karl-Anthony Towns injured his knee. According to Jane Moore, American journalist, MRI showed that there was no reason for worrying, and the doctors concluded trauma to be slight. Karl recovered in several weeks.

Nevertheless, the government of Towns' team didn't allow the sportsman to play in the match with New York Knickerbockers because of the swollen leg.

Career stats

Karl-Anthony Towns usually improves his stats:

NBA:

1. 2015-2016 season. Minnesota team. 82 played games,32.0 minutes per game, .542 field goal percentage, .341 3-point field goal percentage, .811 free throw percentage, 10.5 rebounds per game, 2.0 assists per game, .7 steals per game, 1.7 blocks per game, 18.3 points per game
2. 2016-2017 season. Minnesota team.82 played games, 37.0 minutes per game, .542 field goal percentage, .367 3-point field goal percentage, .832 free throw percentage, 12.3 rebounds per game, 2.7 assists per game, .7 steals per game, 1.3 blocks per game, 25.1 points per game
3. 2017-2018 season. Minnesota team. 82 played games, 35.6 minutes per game, .545 field goal percentage, .421 3-point field goal percentage, .858 free throw percentage, 12.3 rebounds per game, 2.4 assists per game, .8 steals per game, 1.4 blocks per game, 21.3 points per game

Personal life

One of the most popular questions about the sportsman is: “Who is Karl-Anthony's wife?”

At present, he is single

In 2016, Karl-Anthony Towns started dating Kawahine Andrade, a fitness-model and Instagram star from Hawaii. She graduated from Konawaena High in Hawaii and moved to Orange, California.

The couple broke up in summer 2018. There was gossip on the Internet that Towns's girlfriend Andrade cheated, that she had sex with Wolves’ shooting guard Jimmy Butler. However, both of them denied the rumors. The actual reason for their break-up was a difference in the characters.

Today there is no information about Karl-Anthony's relationship.

Karl Anthony Towns is a Dominican American professional basketball player who has a net worth of $9 million.

Interesting facts:

• In 2018 Karl-Anthony took part in a photo shoot for The Body Issue Magazine. His nude pictures became the subject of people’ discussions at once.
• Towns adores his family. In a recent interview, the journalist asked him: “What is your favorite place to visit?”. The sportsman answered that any place in the world is favorite if there is his family.
• Towns' favorite advice is the words by his former coacher John Calipari. Calipari emphasized that it is essential to understand that we live in the present. He said that people should enjoy every moment, cherish it, cause it will never repeat. Towns remembers the moments of his working with Calipari warmly.

• His favorite song is ''Best Day Ever'' by Mac Miller. The sportsman listens to this song before every game for already ten years (he started loving the song being a college student). Mac Miller was Towns' favorite singer from the youth. Later they became close friends (the sportsman even called him “brother”), and Miller's music became more significant for Karl.
• In his life, Towns has had only one car – Range Rover. The sportsman uses it because there is a lot of snow in Minnesota.
• Towns had the first dunk when he was a 6-grade student. Then he was 6 ft. tall and trained a lot. Every time he came to the basketball court with the desire to succeed. One day he arrived, jumped and scored a goal. It drove his father crazy. The boy did the same in the evening practice and was proud of himself.

• By the way, Towns prefers people to call him Karl-Anthony, not just Karl.
• According to Towns, he has an imaginary friend Karlito, who always helps him succeed. Towns has even created the Twitter Profile of Karlito which now has more than 5,000 followers
• Since 2016, the sportsman has a Twitch channel where he publishes the streams playing computer games. It is a fascinating and unusual way to interact with his fans.
• Interestingly, that Towns is a real team player. His achievements don't matter for him; the welfare of his team is much more critical.
• Towns has big feet: his shoe size is 20.