Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns, Tom Thibodeau and a second chance

In 2021, with a transformed perspective on life and his profession, Karl-Anthony Towns wanted to lay the groundwork for fixing an old relationship.

The Minnesota Timberwolves were playing the New York Knicks. And running the sideline for New York’s basketball team was Tom Thibodeau, Towns’ former coach in Minnesota who aided in Towns reaching new heights as a player and the organization briefly getting back to relevancy.

The two didn’t often see eye to eye during the marriage, and the ugly split had yet to be discussed between them.

Towns, this new version of him, wanted to change that. Towns, the man, had a new lease on life. It was far more precious, far bigger than what he once knew. In turn, Towns, the basketball player, who was one of the league’s young stars, started to look at the game through a different lens. The bigger picture was in front of him, staring back with every little detail he wasn’t able to see before.

In 2020, Towns, at 24, lost his mother, his rock, his angel. He lost others close to him due to COVID-19, as well. On the court, the Timberwolves were taking a step backward. The team that had won 45-plus games for the first time in 15 years was now back in the cellar of the NBA. Towns, a two-time All-Star by the 2019-20 season, was dealing with wrist and knee injuries that didn’t help anyone’s case.

With time slowly deteriorating his pain, both physically and emotionally, Towns wanted to try and repair the relationship that he didn’t necessarily cherish in those moments, but, with time, learned that he needed.

“I remember after we played the Knicks pulling Thibs to the side,” Towns told The Athletic in 2021. “I said, ‘I just want to let you know I forgive you.’ There’s no bad blood. One day, let’s just go get dinner. Let’s just chill. We don’t have to worry about the business side, let’s just work on our relationship.”

Towns and Thibodeau are now reunited with larger expectations in front of them than their last go-round together. Last weekend, Towns was traded away from the only place he’s called home to the Knicks, where Thibodeau has helped change the narrative of another organization that, too, was once considered a disaster. New York has pursued Towns during each season Thibeadou has been coach. This was a trade that was years in the making that finally crossed the finish line just before the start of training camp.

Towns now returns to Thibodeau’s guidance with more life under his belt and with more success to his basketball name. He’s a different man but the same basketball player.

This time around, things feel like it could be different between the two.

“We’ve maintained a relationship through the years,” Thibodeau said following Thursday’s practice, Towns’ first as a Knicks player. “It’s always good to see him and I’m happy to have him on our team.”

KAT made his first All-Star team under Thibs, and the Wolves ended a 13-year playoff drought when they qualified as the eighth seed in 2017. But a partnership between one of the league’s best tacticians and most promising young talents never got off the ground. Thibodeau’s acquisition of Jimmy Butler did help the team end that interminable playoff-less streak, but it proved to be the team’s undoing in the end. Butler clashed with Towns and the young Wolves, doing everything he could to publicly embarrass them to force a trade out of town.

Towns and Thibodeau have polar opposite personalities, so the fit was not a natural one. But they found a way to coexist throughout the early portion of their union before the messy Butler divorce upended everything.

Thibodeau was all business, preaching toughness and discipline. He is not one for pleasantries and his routine use of the phrase “this isn’t college” in postgame news conferences when he coached in Minnesota was viewed as a direct message to Towns, who would often reference his time at Kentucky when discussing what he thought was missing with the Timberwolves.

Towns was a young player learning a man’s league. Thibodeau was an accomplished coach with little room for error. The clashes were frequent, particularly toward the end when Thibodeau, who doubled as the Wolves president of basketball operations, did not crack down on Butler’s disruptive behavior. Thibodeau was fired a few months after Butler was traded, replaced by Ryan Saunders, who had a much closer connection to Towns.

Towns appears to have followed a similar path that many Thibs-coached players experience. There is frustration in the moment with a hard-nosed, exacting coach. But after getting some distance and reflecting, the respect for his basketball knowledge and work ethic grows.

“We didn’t see eye to eye,” Towns said in 2021. “We don’t have to. But guess what? We got the job done on the court. We gave the Wolves a chance to be in the playoffs. We did that. Thankful.”

The first conversation that the two had after the trade was about “winning,” said Towns, who was “shocked” by the trade. He knows that’s what Thibodeau cares about and why he is now sporting blue and orange. Towns is looking for the same thing.

Thibodeau is eager to be around Towns again, to learn about this new version, after the experiences he’s endured since the two split ways a few years back. Thibodeau acknowledged that his familiarity with Towns should help provide an easier transition to the Knicks, but he also understands that he still has to learn more about Towns himself.

“There is some benefit to having coached him before and to know who he is as a person, but, also, that was more than five years ago,” Thibodeau said. “He’s in a different place, he’s a different player. There is going to be a learning curve and we have to adjust quickly.”

Towns is considered the final core piece needed for the Knicks trying to accomplish something that they haven’t in 50-plus years: an NBA championship.

The sweet-shooting big man is the perfect complement to star guard Jalen Brunson, who has never played with as much space on a basketball court as he will this season. The two should form one of the league’s most deadly pick-and-pop combos. Both have shooters around them who can capitalize on the star power both bring to the table. The puzzle in New York feels complete. At this point, it’s just a matter of how spectacular can the picture be.

“These guys have something special here,” Towns said. “Last year, (Brunson), he and them have built something special. … I’m here to help and be the best teammate that I can be.”

Towns will have to attempt to fit into a Knicks culture that has been slowly built over the last few seasons. However, his ability to play wingman to Anthony Edwards in Minnesota this past season suggests that he should be able to do so effortlessly.

One major difference this time around is that the Knicks have a handful of leaders with strong connections to Towns who could help keep things running smoothly if they stray from the same page. When Thibodeau was both the president and coach in Minnesota, he did not have another voice on staff empowered to engage with players and address concerns.

The Knicks have president Leon Rose, who was KAT’s first agent. Executive vice president William Wesley was a major influencer in the college game with deep ties to Kentucky when Towns was there. Gersson Rosas, the Knicks senior vice president of basketball operations, ran the front office in Minnesota for two years after Thibodeau was fired.

This is who Towns is now. He’s someone who now has the bigger picture drawn onto his eyelids. Winning is what he wants to do, and he’s recently learned what it takes to do so.

Towns and Thibs should be able to connect now. The stakes are too high. When they first got together in Minnesota, the Timberwolves were considered a young team on the rise with a lot to prove. These Knicks? Their time is now.

And, well, here we are.

Not everyone is willing to give a marriage a second chance to work. They are.

Required reading

(Photo of Tom Thibodeau and Karl-Anthony Towns: David Sherman / NBAE via Getty Images)