MINNEAPOLIS — More than one year later, the feeling remains the same for Karl-Anthony Towns.
Returning to the Target Center for just the second time since the Knicks’ blockbuster trade to acquire him right before the start of last season, he reflected on his old stomping grounds — and the community he left behind.
“It can be two truths in that,” Towns said before the Knicks’ 115-104 loss to the Timberwolves on Tuesday night. “You can be at peace knowing the business cycle keeps going and business is business. After the year we had last year in New York, feeling more at home, fans welcoming you in more, obviously you can be at peace with it, but it still stings when you’re not walking into this locker room. Coming to this amazing state, this city and realize you’re not going to the training facility anymore, you’re not making that drive in, you’re not doing all that. Now you’re in a hotel, it hits different.”
Towns received a loud ovation when he was introduced before the game. Then after the game, Anthony Edwards — who Towns said he still talks to almost every day — said “shout out KAT, I love you KAT” in his on-court postgame interview, to which the crowd cheered again.
“It’s always good to be appreciated,” Towns said after the game. “There’s nothing more valuable in this league, this job, than to be respected. I left my heart, my soul here in Minnesota. For the fans to just, even after two seasons away, to respect me the way they do and to think of me so highly and to appreciate what I left on the court tonight, it means a lot. It really means a lot.”
Towns, without Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby, came out aggressive and recorded 40 points and 13 rebounds. But the loss, here, hurt more than usual.
Karl-Anthony Towns (32) puts up a shot over Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) during the second half when the New York Knicks played the Miami Heat Sunday, December 21, 2025. Robert Sabo for NY Post
“It’s not a good feeling,” Towns said. “Stings a little more for me to be honest. My brothers over there, they’ve been working hard. They’ve got their season on track. They’ve done a really good job recently. They’re a hot team in the NBA. They did enough to win tonight and we just didn’t do enough to win.”
The trade — that sent Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves — has seemed to work out for both sides. They both reached the conference finals last year, and all three major players involved have had personal success at their new stops. Towns had an adjustment period to coach Mike Brown’s new system, but he’s looked much more comfortable since moving back to primarily playing center.
And Towns holds no animosity toward the Timberwolves for dealing him away from the only NBA team he had played for. That differs from Randle, who did not look back on his Knicks tenure fondly — calling the end of it his “darkest moment” in an interview with The Athletic before the season.
Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves reacts during the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks in Game One of the Western Conference Finals at Target Center on May 22, 2024. Getty Images
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The Timberwolves, on the other hand, are still a special organization to Towns.
“I know we’ve done a lot of amazing things in the last 12 months in New York, but I had nine years here,” Towns said. “Just watching this organization grow from being a lottery team to now being a Western Conference juggernaut — to be part of that growth, part of that organization’s rise, to be blessed with the opportunity to change a lot of people’s lives. And a lot of the kids that grew up watching me now are adults. Some of them got kids themselves. To be able to give them something to cheer for, it’s what it’s really all about.”