Karl-Anthony Towns' Dad Rips Jimmy Butler, Says Knicks Star 'Bypassed' His Legacy After NBA Title

Even after watching his son, Karl-Anthony Towns, win the 2026 NBA championship with the New York Knicks, Karl Towns Sr. won't forget the past disrespect.

While speaking to The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski, the elder Towns called out Golden State Warriors veteran wing Jimmy Butler III and declared that his son surpassed his legacy by winning an NBA title.

"It only hurt me as a father to hear people saying stuff that was negative that wasn't true to bring him down," Karl Towns said. "But in the end, it all paid up. Jimmy ain't got no championship. Karl bypassed him."

Butler and Towns teamed together with the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2017-18 season. Though their partnership was brief, it wasn't without some unforgettable controversy. After the Timberwolves opted to give contract extensions to Towns and Andrew Wiggins instead of Butler, the swingman demanded a trade and publicly criticized his teammates and coaches, famously calling Towns and Wiggins "soft" in an ESPN interview before he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in November 2018.

Krawczynski noted that at the time, some within the Timberwolves organization "quietly wanted to see Towns stand up for himself and fight back." However, the big man never engaged and refused to get into a public spat with Butler.

"I just was never going to change who I was, even when the world was asking me to change who I was, so I could be the character in their story," Towns told Krawczynski. "I just was going to continue to be me."

Still, the narrative painted by Butler would follow Towns for years. So when he finally broke through and helped lead the Knicks past the San Antonio Spurs in the 2026 NBA Finals, his father couldn't help but remember everything he had went through before reaching the pinnacle of the sport.

"When there were eight seconds to go in the game, I started crying because my emotions caught up to me," Karl Towns said. "As a dad, you sit here and you hear all the rumors. 'He can't do it. He's not tough. He'll never win a championship.'

"I knew in the next eight seconds, life was going to change. All the haters, all the naysayers, everybody who doubted him have to shut their mouths and respect him now."