Karl-Anthony Towns On ‘Podcast P With Paul George’

Karl-Anthony Towns speaks on Kevin Garnett’s “Call Of Duty” trash talk and adjusting to playing alongside Rudy Gobert on “Podcast P With Paul George”.

We share highlights from this week’s episode of “Podcast P With Paul George”, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, which features PG and the guys sitting down with 3x NBA All-Star and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns.

The episode features KAT sharing stories from inside the Minnesota T-Wolves including teaming up with KG for his rookie season and getting a front-row seat to his legendary trash talk (both on the court and in “Call Of Duty”), as well as the challenges of adjusting to playing alongside Rudy Gobert.

In looking back on the season, KAT also describes their 1st round exit as a failed opportunity for the franchise and points out the need for the team to reach the 2nd round as a minimum goal going into next year.

Later in the episode, KAT shares his POV on the infamous DeMarcus Cousins meme, his experience playing against the Redeem Team at age 15, and more.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

[26:50] KAT ON PLAYING WITH PATRICK BEVERLY

“Man, he’s special. He’s special as a player, as a person. You know? He’s a winner. And he breathes winning and it’s great that his competitive juices fly that much because it pushes you to another level. He’s one of those guys I’ve always seen from afar, you hate to play against him and you would love it if he was your teammate. I couldn’t have been more right. You love playing with him, you hate seeing him on the court against you because he’s such a pest and he’s annoying as hell. He’s one of those dudes. Whatever you say he lacks in size, or he lacks in skill set, or whatever he totally makes it up by being himself and being the energy you need a leader to be.”

[35:38] KAT ON PLAYING AGAINST THE REDEEM TEAM AT 15 YEARS OLD; WHEN BEING IN THE NBA BECAME A REALITY

“I think for me, it was when I was a freshman in high school and I was playing against the Dream Team V2 and I played against them in [Las] Vegas actually. When I played that game, you know, you’re a young kid playing against literally the best players in the world. You know, everyone’s in his prime – LeBron [James]’s in his prime, Kobe [Bryant]’s in his prime, Deron Williams is on the team who you know was regarded as the #1 point guard in the NBA. Kevin Love is on the Minnesota Timberwolves and is in his prime. Tyson Chandler just won a championship with Dallas. Anthony Davis just got drafted number one. … I was on the bench most of the summer but just watching these guys play and I was like ‘Man, I could bust their ass, I’m not going to lie to you. I could do that. If they give me a chance to go on the court, I could do something special.’ And this is me at 15…When I got on the court, how comfortable I felt making behind the back passes against the best players in the world, shooting threes, feeling confident in my skills, and producing some sort of stats. I looked the part, I felt like I was supposed to be there.”

[44:31] KEVIN GARNETT IN THE CALL OF DUTY LOBBY AND NEEDING GINGER ALE TO PLAY

KAT: “Bro, I’m going to tell you the funniest thing, playing video games with KG and in the Call of Duty lobby. That is the best thing ever. Bro, that shit is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. No, the funniest part about KG is he talked to me ‘Lord, lord, lord. Let me tell you something. I always got some ginger ale next to me because the motherfucker be moving too motherfucking fast now [it] be giving me a stomach ache. He told me that shit at practice one day and I busted out laughing. No this man didn’t just tell me he got ginger ale because the game move too fast he get queasy. He got motion sick goddamn.”

PG: “Yo, so me and him had to do a “2K MyPlayer” promo with Ronnie2K, right? So, me [and] him [were] teammates and I think Ronnie was our third. First of all, it took us like 30 minutes just to start playing because KG didn’t know how to work the shit, he didn’t know how to log in, how to get on the game, his mic wasn’t working. Literally every technical difficulty he went through.”

KAT: “You had that experience, imagine being in the Call of Duty lobby and no one knows it’s him. I want all y’all [to] think about this. Kevin Garnett, one of the greatest trash talkers of all time, is in a Call of Duty lobby, arguing with a nine year old. It’s the greatest fucking thing you’ve ever seen. I wish I had content to show y’all that. There ain’t nothing fucking better. And he in game chat. He’s going nuts. Then you feel bad, I gotta back him up and shit. I’m like little Tommy going yo go cry to his parents.”

[1:01:30] KAT ON BECOMING A MEME WITH DEMARCUS COUSINS

KAT: “That shit is funny bro. I think it’s funny. I’m a person who likes to laugh at myself. I’m a jokester. If you don’t like laughing at yourself then obviously you lack self confidence. So I think it’s super funny. I remember that game also going nuts. I was balling that game.”

PG: “It looked like you hit a brick wall.”

KAT: “Right? That man stood there like this too. I looked like I was giving all my might… I remember I had 30-something. I knew I had something going. I don’t remember what happened, I don’t remember what that moment was. I really should go back and rewatch the game.”

[1:21:26] KAT CALLS THIS SEASON A FAILURE IN RESPONSE TO GIANNIS’ COMMENTS

“I only say it’s a failure because we made these big trades and stuff to succeed in the playoffs. And the fact we didn’t make it out [of the] first round, obviously it’s a failure for us because we want to win a championship. We want to have a chance. I think that, you know, [Giannis] is right in what he says in that you never fail. The fact that we went out there and gave it all we had and things didn’t work out doesn’t mean you’re a failure, it just means it wasn’t your year. There’s always going to be 29 teams that it’s not their year. For me, personally, I just had goals that were set. I set at bare minimum for us to make the second round.”

[1:23:05] KAT ON RUDY GOBERT TRADE

“It was definitely something I wasn’t ready for. I remember being in London and getting that call so I actually had no idea that was happening. I was told by social media like everybody else so that was something. It was definitely an adjustment because I had played the 4 my career with Gorgui Dieng playing the 5 so I was kind of prepared for it. And college when I was coming up, I was actually the 4, Willie Cauley-Stein was the 5. So I had an idea of what to do. But someone like Rudy, I [haven’t] played with someone with the talent that Rudy has so I was kind of thrown off because I was also the 5. It made me of course, I had to move to the 4. It changed how my offseason was going to be approached. When Rudy got traded, it was like July so I’ve already started my off-season workouts as a 5 and preparing to be the 5 and watching film to be the 5 and all of a sudden in the offseason it’s like throw all that shit out the window, now you’re the 4. It was a change for me because I didn’t know I was never not going to be the 5 again.”

[1:44:00] KAT CALLS GSW V. SUNS IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

KAT: “It hurts my pride that I gotta say somebody.”

PG: “It’s tough in the West. In the East it’s a little more predictable.”

KAT: “I’m going to pick Golden State and Phoenix.”

PG: “So who do you have going to the finals?”

KAT: “Phoenix”

PG: “You got Phoenix?”

KAT: “I don’t really care, it’s not us. I don’t know what you want me to say.”

PG: “That’s your opinion, I’m not mad about it. You know, I don’t know, it is a tough one. I think the West is – because every story has Denver [as the] number one team in the West. You can’t downplay what they’ve accomplished all year and they’re up in the series, they’re playing well. It’s just, with them, they haven’t really proved they can go that far. They’re great as a team, they just haven’t proved it yet.”