TNT crew thinks Karl-Anthony Towns is lying about practice shots

Towns said he takes up to 1,500 practice shots a day.

May 26, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) controls the ball against Dallas Mavericks forward P.J. Washington (25) in the first quarter during game three of the western conference finals for the 2024 NBA playoffs at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Karl-Anthony Towns admits that he's had a rough shooting series against the Mavericks. And he likely knows that his inaccurate shots are a big reason why the Timberwolves are down three games to none in the best-of-seven conference finals.

"I gotta laugh, I'm putting up to 1,500 shots a day and shot so well all playoffs, confidence extremely high and to be having these unfortunate bounces and these looks that are ust not going in, it's tough, it's tough for sure," Towns said after Dallas took Game 3 Sunday night. "Confidence-wise, I just gotta keep shooting."

The Inside the NBA crew on TNT, featuring Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O'Neal and Draymond Green, criticized Towns for claiming he takes so many practice shots and some of them went as far as to call him a liar.

"KAT capping," Green said. "Ain't nobody shooting 1,500 shots a day right now."

Smith said "he lying" and then attempted to explain how long it might take a player to take 1,500 practice shots a day.

"I never took shots, I did makes. To make 300 in a day takes about 45 minutes. So if you're taking about 1,500 it's going to take you about two and a half hours. And you already practiced and shootaround, so it's cap," Smith said.

Barkley called Towns a liar but said work ethic isn't Towns' issue. Instead, Barkley believes Towns is taking too many 3-pointers and he'd like to see the 7-footer to try to dominate on the interior when the 3s are falling.

"The thing that's funny about him saying that, first of all he's lying. Let's just say hypothetically he was telling the truth. If he's shooting 1,500 threes, that's the problem," said Barkley. "It's the type of shots he's getting. That's the problem. It has nothing to do with him not working on his game. If he's just out there shooting 3s, he's still 4-for-32."

Towns has made just 3-of-22 3-pointers against the Mavericks and he's 4-of-32 from deep dating back to Game 6 in the conference semifinals against Denver. Towns said he's taken "up to" 1,500 shots a day, not that he is taking that many every day. How often does he do it? That's the unknown and something Towns might have to address to escape the shade from the TNT analysts.

Draymond, Kenny, and Chuck are “calling cap” on KAT’s claim that he’s putting up 1,500 shots per day 😭 pic.twitter.com/X0Hnp5g580

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 27, 2024