The Athletic: "Karl-Anthony Towns and the pain basketball can’t fix"

[LukaV]

Some excerpts from a great article:

“I’ve never been in a mentally good place since that woman went in the hospital,” Towns said. “It’s just getting harder and harder every day. As I keep losing people, the season keeps rolling around.”

“I play this game more because I just love watching my family members seeing me play a game I was very good and successful at,” he said. “It always brought a smile for me when I saw my mom at the baseline and in the stands and stuff and having a good time watching me play. It’s going to be hard to play. It’s going to be difficult to say that this is therapy. I don’t think this will ever be therapy again for me.

He comes back to an organization that knows that heartbreak all too well. Ryan Saunders was 29 when he lost his father and his best friend, and it nearly ruined him. “I was ready to quit everything,” Saunders told me before last season. “I was ready to coach a high school team and go fish and just be away. Just basically live a reclusive life.”

Rubio was 25 when his mother passed /.../ “Sometimes at night during the season I was going through hell,” Rubio told me at the Rio Olympics less than three months after Tona’s death. “Waking up in, who knows, Sacramento, in L.A., in the middle of the night alone in a hotel and thinking, ‘Why am I here? Is it really worth it?’”

“I’m very fortunate I got people like D-Lo on my team who has been with me and my mom through some of the greatest moments in my life, especially in my career,” Towns said. “And people like Ricky. I’ve been through his process with his mom and now I’m going through this process with mine.”

Full link: https://theathletic.com/2240589/2020/12/05/karl-anthony-towns-timberwolves-covid/

May the upcoming NBA season distract us for as much as possible from the grim reality! And to all those who have suffered directly or through their loved ones this hellish year, because of Corona or other reasons, I hope that 2021 will be a much better year for you, hopefully bringing you at least some measure of peace...

[FinnTheHuman]

Wolves getting hit by tragedy so much we should rename to Minnesota Blues... Keep your head up, KAT.

[MotownMadness]

This became one of my go to inspirational movie moments when I was dealing with bad depression after losing my Dad and Grandpa within a couple months of each other. Life can be rough like real rough at times.

Watch on YouTube

[Stillwater]

Hoping KATS message gets through to some who still dont understand the virus

[TheNewEra]

He doesn’t seem ready at all for any of this or the season. The quick turn around and loss of lives for Kat already seems like to much to handle. Imagine his mental state if he catches COVID or if again not the risk for himself but everyone he might fear he may hurt

[Woodsanity]

7 of his family members died. I can't even imagine the pain he is going through.