Don't look now, but Karl-Anthony Towns has made the Timberwolves really good

Nine years into his NBA career, Karl-Anthony Towns has only made the playoffs three times, and the Timberwolves failed to make it past the first round in each of those appearances. Most experts projected more of the same this season, but Towns and the Wolves have quietly shoved those predictions face down into a Minnesotan snow bank.

More than a third of the way through the 2023-24 season, the Minnesota Timberwolves have the best record in the Western Conference at 24-7, second behind in the NBA behind the Boston Celtics. The first year of the Twin Towers experiment with Rudy Gobert did not go as planned last year with both 7-footers missing much of the season with varying injuries and rarely sharing the court.

This year, however, Towns has already exceeded his total games played from last year (29) and has his team rolling thanks in part to world-class shooting numbers. That and Anthony Edwards has taken the proverbial leap. Edwards switched to his college jersey #5 this season and now has a career-high in points per game at 26. The former SEC Freshman of the Year and No. 1 overall draft pick is definitively not the NBA bust many believed him to be (including me). He, Towns, and Gobert have formed a subtly dominant Big 3 up in Minnesota and the results are crystallizing.

Towns does not miss much

The 50-40-90 club is one of rarified air. Only nine different players in the history of the NBA have ever accomplished the feat of shooting 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3, and 90 percent from the free-throw line, and nearly all of them are either current or future Hall-of-Famers. Names like Larry Bird, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant headline this exclusive fraternity and Karl-Anthony Towns is on the verge of joining them.

Towns is shooting 50.7 percent from the field, 40.6 percent from behind the arc, and 89.3 percent from the charity stripe. Before a poor 2-4 shooting night from the line on Thursday, KAT was shooting free throws at over 90 percent. There is still plenty of basketball left to play this season, but KAT’s historic field goal efficiency is a big reason the Wolves are sitting atop the Western Conference.

Despite his rarely missing, one of the reasons KAT has been so under the radar (save for playing in a small market in the Arctic north) has been his jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none skillset. Even in the categories where you’d think he’d rank highly, Towns is 42nd in the NBA in points per game with 21.1, 34th in field golf percentage, 41st in 3-point shooting percentage, and falls outside the top 10 in free throw percentage. He is not even in the top 50 when it comes to advanced statistics like true field goal percentage and effective field goal percentage.

And yet, KAT is the only player in the NBA averaging at least five points per game on the cusp of the 50-40-90 club. Truly astonishing.

Can the Timberwolves keep this up?

Time will tell if the Minnesota Timberwolves are legit title contenders or a product of unsustainable early success. As of now, it looks like they aren’t receding into mediocrity anytime soon. All five starters are averaging double figures and they hold the best defensive rating in the league.

Combine that with two legitimate offensive powerhouses in Ant and KAT, the Wolves are going to force their way into the national conversation sooner rather than later. Two years ago, Towns flirted with a heel turn by unveiling a faux bad-boy persona that didn’t quite fit. Now, he is playing aggressively but within himself, and the Wolves are reaping the benefits.

While Minnesota leads the Western Conference standings, it is worth pointing out Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has the Oklahoma City Thunder in second place. He is putting up MVP-type numbers as the young and talented OKC team is shaping up to be a formidable squad this season as well.

The list continues. In addition to traditional studs like Anthony Davis and Devin Booker leading Western Conference favorites, Jamal Murray has the defending champion Denver Nuggets in 3rd, and the Sacramento Kings, led by De’Aaron Fox, sit 5th in the West.

It all goes to show how much former Kentucky players currently run the NBA.