SelbyCobra wrote:TKKnicks1 wrote:Anyone a bit concerned on how Towns took the trade news? His IG post and then showing up to an event 12 hours later decked out in Wolves gear?! I know its a shock when you get traded but with this dudes history of being soft I'm hoping his emotional state is ready to embrace NY. Last thing we need is a disgruntled star creating drama and locker room tension. This unit has been really gelling last couple of seasons and they don't need that noise right now.
Nah. This is a concern for people who are outside Minnesota, don't pay attention to KAT closely, and want to smack the "soft" label on him and call it a day.
You're talking about a 19 year old kid from Jersey who became a multimillionaire number 1 overal draftpick overnight when he moved to Minnesota, a city that is clowned in professional sports conversations at every turn (Twins, Vikings, Wolves), especially by New Yorkers. He has spent nearly a decade growing up there, being their star there, taking the team from ridicule to the brink of the NBA Finals. He has always worked heavily in the Minnesota community, and when he lost 8 family members to COVID in 2021, including his mother, that was the community that supported him. When you become a professional in a high profile position as a teenager, and your star turn happens in a smaller, often maligned city over the course of a decade, you develop a bond there (if you have any heart at all). Apropos of nothing, I 'd guess that KAT has stronger ties to his team's community and identity than almost any other player in the league.
Look at Minnesota fans reaction to this - they're largely devastated because of WHO he is, not just how he plays basketball. Now imagine the other side of it in Towns, where he was literally a kid when he started there and has spent his entire adult life working in and connecting with that community. It's a pretty unique/special situation.
Very soon we'll here from him and he'll tell the truth - it's devastating to leave the place that raised him and supported him through some of the greatest highs and the unquestionable worst lows of his life. But if there's any place he'd rather be it's at home with his childhood favorite Knicks, playing for a man he considers family in Leon Rose. And away we'll go.
8 family members? I can't even begin to understand how hard that was for him.




























