Karl-Anthony Towns on Timberwolves' Losing: 'Not Trying to Do That S--t Anymore'
Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns is tired of losing.
"I've been losing for a long time," he said following Wednesday's 127-120 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. "I'm not trying to do that s--t anymore. So every possession means a lot. You obviously see my patience running low with a lot of things. There's no excuses. We gotta get it done."
To say Towns, who was sidelined for part of December and January with an injury, has not experienced winning for some time would be an understatement. The Timberwolves have lost 17 straight games with the University of Kentucky product on the floor.
In fact, Towns' last win that he was a part of came against the San Antonio Spurs back in November.
He did his part Wednesday with a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds and entered play averaging a career-best 26.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.2 blocks per game behind 50.8 percent shooting from the field and 40.8 percent shooting from three-point range.
While an easy narrative would be to blame the losing on the franchise player Minnesota selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, he has been impressive on an individual level.
Yet, the Timberwolves have been to the playoffs just once since that draft, and that was when Jimmy Butler was on the roster during the 2017-18 season. They lost in five games in the first round to the Houston Rockets.
Krawczynski noted Towns is "clearly frustrated" but suggested "it's hard to see things getting markedly better," especially since "all indications are" potential trade target D'Angelo Russell is not on the way.
Minnesota did trade Robert Covington, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, and Towns admitted that was hard on him:
Towns is not scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent until after the 2023-24 season. If things don't change soon for the Timberwolves, his frustration only figures to grow.
