After the Timberwolves dropped a third straight game on Wednesday, falling 126-115 to the Clippers, Karl-Anthony Towns‘ Twitter account liked a tweet that included the #FreeKAT hashtag. However, Towns said on Thursday that he wasn’t responsible for that “like,” which happened when he was asleep.
“Honestly, I woke up this morning, my agent hit me up and was like, ‘Karl, what is this?'” Towns said on Thursday, per Dane Moore of Blue Wire (Twitter link). “I was like, ‘What the f— are you talking about?’ I hadn’t woke up yet for the whole day.”
Towns went on to explain that only three people – him, his agent Jessica Holtz, and his close friend Chucky Anthony – have access to his Twitter account, and he didn’t believe any of them liked the #FreeKAT tweet.
“I know Chucky didn’t do it because he was in the hospital with his father. I know he didn’t have time to do that,” Towns said. “Jess never has used it. So, got hacked, easy thing, fixed the password.
“Sorry to the Wolves fans. I ain’t want to cause no hysteria or anything like that. But just know I’m very happy. I know we’re on a skid so it came at the worst possible time, that little hacking. I’m excited to hopefully build more years here, not just this year.”
It’s hard to believe a hacker would’ve gained access to Towns’ account simply to like a single tweet. However, as Jon Krawczynski writes for The Athletic, there’s also little reason to think that Towns wants to leave Minnesota, even if the hacking story strains credulity.
Towns has repeatedly stated that he wants to win with the Timberwolves, and spoke at the end of last season about wanting to have a long career with one team, like Tim Duncan with the Spurs or Kobe Bryant with the Lakers. The Wolves also aren’t off to a terrible start this season. Despite the current three-game losing streak, Minnesota has a 3-4 overall record, putting the team in the play-in mix in the early going.
Still, as Krawczynski notes, there are plenty of teams around the league that will continue to closely monitor Towns’ situation in case anything changes. His current maximum-salary contract runs through the 2023/24 season.
And I have a 12 inch
hoagie?
12 inch ruler ? Cool
Ill never understand why playing in one team is valued that high in USA culture. Its the same thing in the other major sports? serious question
A lot of the old school folks like it. Especially when baseball was in its heyday and extremely popular and Guys stayed with one team their whole career. Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Bench, Etc I think people loved that. Same folks that say free agency ruined baseball.
Myself, I love free agency and trades and building your roster every year. I love being a Red Sox fan because it seems that with a big-market team every year they spend a little money to try to compete. Not too many years where they don’t sign a few guys.
But I’m Different, I like change, I have a different vehicle every year and I move around and travel a lot. For the most part I get that folks like consistency. Quarterbacks who stay with the same team their whole career mostly stuff like that.
But people move around more. They don’t stay in Los Angeles and root for Cey and Lopes and Garvey and Rick Monday and Steve Yeager for 10 years. Players move around and we move around more today.
I’m with you 100%. These “purist” fans like to equate staying with the same team to fidelity in a relationship or dedication to the fans. That’s an inaccurate representation of the dedication it takes to be able to compete at the highest levels of sport, win or lose. It’s also celebrating the legacy of systems that featured restrictive policies like the reserve clause. Sure, players stayed with one team their entire careers… because they didn’t have a choice.
Sports fans worldwide are better off if they indulge in understanding the history and legacy of athletes like Curt Flood and Jean-Marc Bosman. The sports industry would not be nearly as financially successful if not for their contributions to giving individuals agency over their own careers.
I like that there’s the option to move if the player feels so inclined, but also trading or letting guys go for no reason other than money is the worst aspect of pro sports.
These athletes all play in high school and college usually at the same place, so they are used to familiarity. The fact that lots of legends were 1-teamers and wanted to be big members of their local communities is important to a lot of guys, it’s not just leaving the team its leaving that local community that they spend all year working with and alongside.
The anti 1-teamer argument is pure Lebronaganda. The fact what he did was way worse with Miami than what KD did with GSW but never gets put under the microscope like that proves positive the sports media is largely being corrupted by him.
I think a guy like LeBron James did it right. He was drafted by his hometown team the Cleveland Cavaliers and stayed there for what 7 or 8 years? That’s pretty loyal to me even though fans chided him for leaving and going to the Miami Heat as a free agent.
I don’t get what the fuss was about, he stayed for enough time to be loyal to the team that drafted him. He even took it a step further and went back for a couple of seasons 2 quench the hate he received.
For instance Kevin Garnett, who stayed in Minnesota 12 years I think, said he made a mistake by staying that long before moving on and trying to win somewhere else. He regretted staying that long and being loyal that long.
I think the NBA tried to reduce the amount of movement by giving teams the ability to tie up a draftee for five years before they reach unrestricted free agency. I think that’s fair and a good compromise.
Thanks, so its a “thing” in the other sports too. Its absolutely irrelevant to me… and i mean… the Wolves fans would take 100% having KAT one year and give them a Title over him playing his entire career there to be a playoff contender at best. Like the Raptors ecuation with Kawhi, i guess that they love Kawhi even if he played one year.
You’re welcome, but that’s just my take. Not sure if it’s right or not. Maybe someone else has a different opinion and can be more accurate with their assessment of why loyalty to one team is revered?
I think sports are better when more teams are interesting, from 2016-2019 or whatever we all knew it was Cavs warriors in the finals, the season becomes nothing for anyone not fans of those teams very fast, winning in the place you started is far more difficult than joining a group of the leagues best players so it gets more respect…players are free to do what they want and that’s cool, but I will just always respect Giannis for deciding he was gonna win in Milwaukee and stay than I will lebron who went to the heat to make a team have 3 of the 10 best players in the league…..it’s all a matter of perspective from each individual fan and I think it matters how great a player is, no one thinks Steve Nash is any better or worse cause he moved some, but Steve Nash was never close to Lebrons level of great
This is because Lebron is jealous of Steph/Dray/Klay and the pro-lebron media tries every year to do as much as they can to break them up, usually focussing on Draymond, but they are never going to play anywhere else because no other team is as well-run as GSW.
For me it’s less staying with one team and more hating to see the small and medium market teams lose their top players to the big markets. It’s not really fair given the variety of advantages some teams have over others. People tend to like to see the little guys win.
Also, I think it’s only human nature to want to see someone you’ve followed for awhile stick with the team for as long as possible, at least if you would be an actual fan of the team. As an outsider that shouldn’t be a factor.
The main point for having one player with one team I think is the ability to identify a franchise with a player. You could root for a team and you had your guy. Nowadays you have a guy like LeBron jumping from team to team based on whoever he thinks will give him the best chance to win a championship. When you look back you know Michael was a Bull, Magic was a Laker, Bird a C, Dr. J was a Sixer etc. When those guys won it added to their legacy versus a player today chasing championships today.
Not to mention you could buy your favorite players jersey and believe it was the only jersey you needed to own for that one player. Now you could spend hundreds or thousands of dollars if you chase a player around and keep buying all their jerseys and other merchandise.
I think it’s not just for the purists but it is good for the sport to have those few players that do stick with one team. You could go around every sports team and choose at least one player per team that you could identify them with.
Lebron has been on 3 teams
And the last one he went to was a cellar dweller before he came
“The Decision” was a cringy moment no doubt, but Rd 2 in Cle was spades and building the Lakers back into champions from the ashes was a nice cherry on top as well
The man is righteous so take him at his word on the hacking. Does he want to stay in god forsaken Minnesota long term ? Why.
Probably was drunk. Or a friend or family
member took his phone.
The password that got hacked was #FreeKAT, I wonder how they knew?
This is Minnesota’s best team in years. They could make the in tournament if they beat the bad teams. Edwards is looking more everyday on being a future star. What they lack is better defense.
They hustle this year and their D is the best it’s been. Funny that Butler would fit in so well now…
Give Kat his max extensions whenever he’s eligible and then trade him for a huge return to build around Edwards. KAT tries to say all the right things but he’s getting frustrated already with Edwards taking more shots every night. Imagine how frustrated he’s going to be when people start talking about how Edwards is the better player in a few seasons.
I’ve already been talking about it. Karl needs to be a #2 if they are going to win. He needs to give the keys to A.Edwards and become a deadly #2 option on offense. This should allow him to become a better rim protector as well, because he will spend less energy trying to be a playmaker/ball-handler.
Now, let’s see if Karl is on board with all of this…
Edwards isn’t close to the player Kat is yet, unfortunately. I love Edwards and his potential is extremely high, but he’s still a volume scorer who’s very inefficient. Of course he’s 20 and has plenty of time to improve, though.
I just think KAT isn’t the kind of player you build around. He’s a great player and would be a huge asset on an already great team, but his emotions always seem to get the best of him.
Considering he couldn’t get along with Jimmy Butler, Ricky Rubio or Wiggins, and now he’s apparently already tired of this roster, I think Towns gets a pass by the media far too often because he’s smart enough to give them the bs quote they want. I’d love to be wrong and see KAT help the Wolves turn things around, but it seems unlikely.
Towns wanders oncourt.. he should have got along with Rubio better!
Russell and Edwards seem similar, so… does it work?— Well if everyone’s doing it they can’t complain about each other, in theory. Finch won’t mind. But it has not worked in Town’s time; is risky as a leadership style.
See how they compliment Vanderbilt… they say •he’s always where he should be, doing what he’s supposed to be doing, generally positive•. He sticks out that way.
How could any player not get along with Rubio??
Edwards is the better finisher at the rim compared to Russell. D-Lo is better from outside, IMO. I like having Edwards with the ball in his hands at the top, and then run P-n-R with Towns for most possessions. Rubio had a double-screen wheel play with Towns that was very hard to stop last season. Wonder if D-Lo remembers that set?
It’s probably time to make Vanderbilt a full-time starter. He is the best option at the 4 on most nights. Put McDaniels at the 3 where he is a better match-up.
“The dog ate my homework”.
Karl is “very happy” in “Minnesota.”
The writer of this post is a bit of a conspiracy theory lover, right?
I mean it seems to me as clear a hacking of an account as I have ever seen, right?
One must wonder what makes anyone think that KAT would have posted it himself, it just beggars believe, right?
Because “hackers” usually say something more interesting than that. Plus that was the only thing they posted.
Zach links hacked Luke Adams and posted it
What?
Good point rct.
It was probably a tapping error on a touch screen.
The check is in the mail…….