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Knicks Guard Shows Support for Karl Anthony-Towns

A New York Knicks guard offered heartfelt support for Karl Anthony-Towns, who is enduring a personal tragedy.

Geoff Magliocchetti

Feb 12, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) is greeted by guard Josh Hart (3) during a timeout in the second quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Feb 12, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) is greeted by guard Josh Hart (3) during a timeout in the second quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
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For as much as New York Knicks fans may be facetiously suffering over the team's recent endeavors, this week has served as a stark reminder that issues beyond basketball loom larger.

It has been an emotional week for the Knicks, who have rallied around All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns, who is grieving a loss in his family. Towns sat out of Tuesday's game against the Golden State Warriors due to listed personal reasons, but his girlfriend Jordyn Woods recently revealed that one of her loved ones recently passed away after a cancer battle.

Towns' Knicks teammate Josh Hart hopes that the Knicks' support and care for Towns reminds observers that players are only human in spite of the occasionally supernatural stunts they put on the hardwood on a nightly basis.

"It's tough," Hart said after Friday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers, in video from Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints. "A lot of you guys forget we're humans or you guys look at us like we're animals in a petting zoo or a parlay and y'all forget that we're actual people, that we have real life problems and traumas and things like that that we have to navigate."

"We give [Towns] a lot of credit, we're there for him, and I think everyone has to keep that in mind when they see things. People say stupid things when they don't understand and... We're humans.”

The "stupid things" Hart refers to likely came from the mouth of Golden State star Draymond Green, who baselessly accused Towns of skipping Tuesday's game to avoid a showdown with former Minnesota teammate Jimmy Butler. Green has since offered condolences but has not fully apologized for the accusation.

Towns has since returned to the Knicks as they engage in a five-game road trip out west. He led the team with 23 points in a 105-95 defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night at Intuit Dome, where he said he planned to work through this process "with love, family, and support of everybody in [the Knicks'] locker room."

Towns also mentioned that the situation "opened old wounds up" as he previously lost several family members, including his mother Jacqueline, during the COVID-19 pandemic. He previously credited Woods for helping him through that ordeal and is now doing the same trough this situation.

"Obviously, it's been a very tough week, especially in a place where I'm usually comfortable at," Towns said (h/t New York Basketball on X). "It meant a lot to have my teammates supporting me in this situation, to have the love of my family and my girl's family through this hard time."

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Geoff Magliocchetti
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.

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