Knicks Star Holding Onto MVP Odds

Is KAT on the MVP prowl? The numbers certainly seem to back the New York Knicks star's case.

All but three teams (Charlotte, LA Lakers, Utah) have played 41 games in this NBA season and the second half is about to get underway. The numbers at Basketball Reference, one of the premier statistical pages for NBA facts and figures, back at least something of an MVP case for Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns, who has lived up to his billing and then some since coming over from Minnesota in a late offseason trade.

Towns places third in Basketball Reference's MVP ladder entering this week, granted a 2.4 percent chance of winning the title. That's miles behind front-runners Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous Alexander but Towns tops the best of the rest despite missing some of the Knicks' more recent showings.

In 38 metropolitan appearances to date, Towns is averaging 25.4 points and 13.9 rebounds, the latter leading the Knicks (27-16) as they seek to build on consecutive conference semifinal appearances. Towns has no doubt placed the Knicks' among the top contenders to challenge for the Boston Celtics' Eastern Conference crown, even with a few hiccups along the way.

In a macabre irony, Towns' MVP case has perhaps been best made in absentia: the New Jersey native has been dealing with a sprained thumb that hindered him in Monday's loss to the Detroit Pistons and kept him out of subsequent showings against Philadelphia and Minnesota entirely.

The Knicks certainly missed Towns when his former employers came to visit MSG on Friday night, as they scored a season-low 34 points in the paint en route to a 116-99 defeat. With Towns ailing, the Knicks have not strung together consecutive wins in the new year.

As it stands, Towns is listed as questionable for the Knicks' next contest, a Monday matinee against the Atlanta Hawks (3 p.m. ET, MSG).

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