Karl-Anthony Towns says previous relationship with Tom Thibodeau gives Knicks a ‘head start’

The Knicks head coach and his new star player won’t have to spend long getting on the same page ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season.

Tom Thibodeau coached Karl-Anthony Towns for two-and-a-half years with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and KAT believes that gives them a significant “head start” on their newest partnership as they begin pursuit of the franchise’s first NBA championship in more than 50 years.

“I think it gives us a little bit of a head start,” the 7-foot Towns, an Edison, N.J. native and former star at St. Joe’s-Metuchen, told reporters Thursday at training camp in Charleston, S.C.

“I know the offense that he runs, how he likes to play defense and what he expects from his players, so I just think it gives us a little bit of a head start.”

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Thibodeau already has the buy-in of Towns, who was obtained in a blockbuster trade centered around Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

In an interview with Shannon Sharpe, KAT called Thibodeau “one hell of a coach” and added he’s “someone who truly loves what they do and puts all their passion and their life mission is being the best coach they can be.”

On Thursday, he added that Thibodeau helped him “build great habits” and to “put the work in.”

“When I was with Thibs, I learned a lot,” he said. “He helped move my career forward.

Towns also praised his new teammates — including the former Villanova trio of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges along with OG Anunoby — as “great players.”

“If we continue to put the work in day in and day out and we can be the best versions of ourselves every single day, we can do a lot of things,” he said.

Towns joked that he introduced himself to Brunson, the team captain, after the point guard was asked about his newest teammate at media day on Monday and replied, “Who’s Karl?”

“The first thing I did, I walked up to Jalen and I introduced myself, told him my name was Karl,” he said in a deadpan.

“I know it was a struggle for him, so I just wanted to let hm know who I was and introduce myself to cap, so it was fun.”

For his part, Thibodeau said his prior relationship with KAT helps and that they stayed in touch. But he added that he hasn’t coached him since he was fired midway through the 2019-20 season and that Towns has changed since then.

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

Thibodeau said the Knicks’ need for a center was the “driving force” behind the trade for Towns. The team lost Isaiah Hartenstein to the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency, while Mitchell Robinson is out until December or January after ankle surgery and has also been linked to the trade market.

“We had a need obviously at the center position, so that was really the driving force behind it,” he said. “But we certainly appreciated everything both of those guys [Randle and DiVincenzo] did for us. It was a tough decision to make, but we felt it was one that we had to make.

“And now we’re excited to have KAT. To be able to get a player of his stature was huge, but you don’t get a player like that without giving good players up. And so that’s what we had to do.”

“But we’re excited about the team that we have.”

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.