Karl-Anthony Towns stirred the pot when he made some comments about Russell Westbrook, calling the Los Angeles Lakers a stat chaser. Talking with Youtuber Adin Ross, KAT gave his props to Russ but also said he looked for the stats, which didn’t sit well with some players.
First, Draymond Green called him out, recalling a game where KAT stayed on the court despite the Minnesota Timberwolves being 20 points down, blasting him for the hypocrisy. Moreover, Joel Embiid, KAT’s nemesis, took some big shots at the Dominican-American player.
This situation opened the door for people to remind and old back and forth between the 2015 No. 1 overall pick and the 2017 NBA MVP. During a Minnesota Timberwolves-Oklahoma City Thunder duel in 2019, KAT and Russ were exchanging jabs. Ryan Saunders ordered his players not to engage in any verbal dispute with Westbrook, but Towns didn’t listen to that.
After a couple of barks, the then Oklahoma City Thunder player sent a big message to Towns and Dario Saric, making it clear they didn’t have anything to say to Russ until they make the postseason.
“Get to the fucking playoffs before you speak to me,” Russ yelled at the two young players, via The Athletic.
Curiously, this happened in March 2019, a month before the Timberwolves would make the playoffs. It was the first and only time KAT went to the playoffs on a team that had Jimmy Butler on the roster.
Ever after that, the T-Wolves have been a disappointment. It’s unclear if that comment had something to do with Towns throwing shade at Russ, but his remarks were thought-provoking, making a lot of noise around the league.
This season, the Timberwolves and Lakers have similar realities. Perhaps this could open the door for these two teams to clash in the play-in tournament, where Towns would have a good chance to take revenge on Brodie.
Right now, Minnesota ranks 8th in the West, while the Lakers follow them very closely with only 0.5 games of difference.
