Karl-Anthony Towns talks about his ‘wild’ return to Minnesota with the New York Knicks

In particular, Towns said he will always have a special relationship with Wolves guard Anthony Edwards. The two had a close relationship from the time Edwards arrived with the franchise in 2020, and Towns helped Edwards navigate the sometimes choppy waters of NBA stardom as his career rose when the two were teammates. After the trade happened, Edwards said Towns was his “brother” and that the trade “really hurt.” When the Wolves played the Knicks in the preseason, Edwards and Towns swapped jerseys, with Edwards saying he had to have Towns’ jersey that night.

“Just continue to cheer for him, always have an ear to listen to things that he has, and ideas he has,” Towns said. “Whatever it may be. Be there for him. Like KG was to me, like a big bro, I’m always going to be here, Ant. Ant never has to worry about not having me on his side just because the jerseys are different. Our relationship, I don’t even want to say it’s a friendship. It’s really a brotherhood.”

Over the past few days, a number of Wolves spoke about the memories they have of Towns. Rudy Gobert is grateful for Towns’ friendship and how accommodating Towns was when Gobert came to Minnesota in 2022.

Mike Conley said he missed Towns’ upbeat attitude and personality around the practice facility every day, while coach Chris Finch said Towns’ sacrifice of switching positions to make room for Gobert was never undervalued by the team. Now that he’s playing center again, Towns’ numbers are up, and he leads the league in rebounding.

“Forever grateful for that, and not many players of his caliber are going to do it with the willingness that he did and the effectiveness that he did,” Finch said. “… He liked to practice, he brought good energy to practice. He cheered for Ant from the moment that he got here, and that really set the tone for everything since I’ve been here.”

Towns hasn’t stopped cheering for his old team, even if he paused that for one night.