Knicks need to find a way to get Karl-Anthony Towns going
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) passes over Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman) Credit: AP
PORTLAND, Ore.
With the return of Josh Hart on Sunday, things seemed to be complete again. With their connector back, the Knicks got a win and all five starters scored at least 18 points.
But there was one issue that even Hart couldn’t resolve in the Knicks’ 123-114 win over the Trail Blazers. They still need to figure out how to get the most out of Karl-Anthony Towns.
Hart gave it a try. On a possession capped by one of his early three-point field goals that got the Knicks going, he instead attempted to get Towns involved.
“I think the second one I made, I think we call it ‘wedge,’ ” Hart said of the play he was running. “Middle of the play, me and KAT are yelling at each other. He was telling me to shoot it. I’m telling him to run the play. I’m trying to get him the shot. He’s yelling at me to shoot it. I just said, you know what, forget it, I’m just going to pull it.”
Hart couldn’t help Towns in the final minutes because Towns wasn’t in the game, sitting out the final 9:24.
He played only 27 minutes, 48 seconds — the least of the starters and more than seven minutes less than Deuce McBride, who came off the bench.
Towns posted an efficient 20 points, shooting 9-for-13 (2-for-3 from beyond the arc) and adding 11 rebounds and three assists.
Still, the Knicks were down by two when he took a seat, and without him, they opened a double-digit lead. Mitchell Robinson, who was named the Knicks’ defensive player of the game, anchored the defense down the stretch. So Mike Brown made moves and never put Towns back on the floor.
“We normally do,” Brown explained afterward. “On the minutes sheet, he’s there. But we strung a lot of stops together. And we were getting out and going. And I will do this: If I think a group is rolling, I’ll keep a group as long as it doesn’t impact a guy’s minutes drastically. And that group was rolling and I kept them out there because of it.”
It’s understandable, and Brown isn’t unlike other NBA coaches in that regard. Towns has played fewer than 30 minutes in a game nine times this season. There were three blowouts, some foul trouble and sometimes circumstance, as was the case Sunday. But what isn’t understandable is that the Knicks still have not figured out exactly how to get the most out of him.
There are spectacular nights when he looks like the All-NBA star the Knicks are relying upon next to Jalen Brunson — nine games of at least 28 points and at least 50% shooting, including a 40-point, 13-rebound effort in Minnesota. But he also has scored in single digits four times, including a two-point performance on 1-for-5 shooting against Miami.
“I just feel like I want to do like I’ve said since Day 1, impact winning as much as possible, and whatever it takes to impact winning and get ones in the left column, I’m willing to do,” Towns said the day before the win over Portland, taking the high road when asked about the long process to find his way in this new system.
“Obviously, it’s frustrating when you have that philosophy and you’re not winning. But the goal doesn’t change. Do whatever it takes to get New York a win.”
There was some concern that Towns might have trouble playing for Tom Thibodeau after they had split in Minnesota years earlier, but Towns posted a third-team All-NBA season in 2024-25. He almost certainly will be an All-Star again this season with averages of 21.2 points and 11.4 rebounds. But his shooting percentage has dipped from .526 last season to .471 and his three-point shooting percentage has dropped from .420 to .355.
From the start of the season, Brown has said the most difficult adjustment would be Towns’. He shifted him to power forward to play alongside Robinson, put him in a plan that included running the floor to the corners and then sent him back to center.
“I’ve said this before: It’s not all on KAT to adjust to and adapt to what we have to do,” Brown said. “He’s had the hardest adjustment period because he’s had to learn the most. In the same breath, I have to make sure that I help him by simplifying what we do and making sure I’m putting him in the right spots, and then he’s got to do the things necessary to help out as well.
“He’s a great rebounder. He was back at it [Friday in Phoenix]. He’s a potential double-double guy every time he steps out on the floor, so there are other ways he can impact the game, whether shots are going in, whether he’s getting shots or not. That’s what great players do. The last couple of games, he did do that.”
But in that Phoenix game, Towns took only four shots in the first half and didn’t score until 7:20 remained in the half. He was aggressive in the third quarter, but Brown insisted that wasn’t a play call and instead just the flow of the game.
That may be Brown’s style and the coach may be right in the long run. But in the long run — and right now — he also needs to figure out how to get the most out of Towns. Everything else is in place.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
