KAT Wins It All With Knicks, Shows Love to Anthony Edwards in Aftermath

Karl-Anthony Towns is an NBA champion. At 30 years old, in his 11th season, the former No. 1 overall pick and longtime Timberwolves star has reached the mountaintop with the team he grew up watching as a kid in New Jersey.

Towns' Knicks rallied from yet another early deficit and closed out a 4-1 series win over the Spurs on Saturday night in San Antonio. Jalen Brunson dropped 45 points in a 94-90 win to leave no doubt about the Finals MVP award. Towns struggled offensively with 2 points and 5 turnovers, but he did have 10 rebounds and 3 steals before fouling out late.

After the first two games of this series, Towns didn't do a whole lot on the offensive end. But individual numbers don't matter in the playoffs. It's about winning, and the Knicks did a whole lot of winning in a 16-3 run through the playoffs. KAT was instrumental in their success in earlier series and contributed some timely plays and rebounds throughout the later rounds.

Karl-Anthony Towns finished the playoffs with averages of 15.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.3 steals in 30.4 minutes, while shooting 45.6 percent from three.

His +258 plus-minus for the playoffs is the highest single-postseason plus-minus on record.
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) June 14, 2026

After the game, Towns gave a shoutout to his former Timberwolves teammates and showed love specifically to Anthony Edwards, who he played with for four years in Minnesota before the 2024 trade that sent him to New York.

"A huge shoutout to all the teammates I've had before coming here," KAT said to ESPN's Scott Van Pelt. "Shoutout to my brother Anthony Edwards. Talking to him all the time. Those guys made me better. They made me a better leader, made me a better player, made me the man I am today. Forever grateful for them."

“Shoutout to my brother Anthony Edwards.”

- KAT ❤️ pic.twitter.com/77OtvkaReX
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 14, 2026

Towns even posted a screenshot of a FaceTime call with Edwards in the aftermath of the win.

KAT and Ant Edwards on FaceTime pic.twitter.com/38wWjL5InN
— Kris Pursiainen (@krispursiainen) June 14, 2026

Towns is the latest in a line of former Timberwolves players to leave the franchise and win a championship somewhere else. Kevin Garnett won it with the 2008 Celtics in his first season after leaving Minnesota. Kevin Love won it with the 2016 Cavaliers in his second season there. Andrew Wiggins won it with the 2022 Warriors a little over two years after being traded. Now KAT's on the list.

But while that trend may be painful for Wolves fans, the most common reaction from Saturday night in Minnesota seems to be genuine happiness for Towns. After everything he's been through, from basketball-related failure and drama with the Wolves to much more significant adversity like losing his mother and other family members to COVID, he deserves this story and this moment.

Karl-Anthony Towns is an NBA champion. Even if it didn't happen with the Timberwolves, that's a pretty cool thing to get to say.

Add us as a preferred source on Google