Karl-Anthony Towns sits out game one year after his mother died of covid-19
karl #karl
Amid the shock and exhaustion of another high-profile police shooting close to home, the Minnesota Timberwolves played the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday without center Karl-Anthony Towns, who sat out the game on the first anniversary of his mother’s passing.
The team honored Towns’s mother, Jacqueline Cruz, during its home win over the Chicago Bulls on Sunday. Towns intended not to play in the team’s next game, originally scheduled for Monday but pushed to Tuesday afternoon after Daunte Wright was fatally shot by police officer Kim Potter on Sunday in a Minneapolis suburb.
“We spent some nice moments with Karl and his family after the game out here on the floor and then I texted with him today just to say that we were thinking about him,” Timberwolves Coach Chris Finch said Tuesday via the Wolves Radio Network. “It’s one more thing, one more emotional drain, but he and his family have been amazing, and I know for sure he’s thankful to have basketball as an outlet to be able to go out and do what he loves to do and what his mom loved to see him do.”
Towns, who missed the 127-97 loss to Brooklyn to spend time with his family, posted photos on social media commemorating his mother’s death in the days leading up to Tuesday’s anniversary. His mother died April 13, 2020, at 58 following a multiweek battle with covid-19.
The Timberwolves honored Cruz on Sunday by adorning a seat in the Target Center with a jersey and flowers. Towns’s father, Karl Sr., was in attendance; he shared an embrace with his son and Bulls guard Zach LaVine after the game.
“First time seeing him in a long time, wanted to go over there, give him a hug, let him know I’m always thinking of him,” LaVine said. “I think we all understand the situation that they’ve gone through. I don’t think anybody can imagine that. Even with KAT playing this year, I think it’s incredible. So just let him know I love him and I’m always going to be there with him.”
Towns played with his father in attendance for the first time since his mother died when the Timberwolves last faced the Nets in late March.
“Me and my dad got emotional before the game,” Towns told reporters after the game, “because he made his presence known. It affected me because my mom always did that.
“My mom would be the one to go at the stanchion, or be there and wave at me until I said hi to her or came and hugged her,” he said the next day.
Karl Towns Sr. contracted the virus and was hospitalized last year. The Timberwolves star, who contracted the virus in January, said in December that the disease had killed seven of his family members.
“We cannot stop the spread of this virus alone; it must be a group effort by all of us,” Towns said in a statement at the time. “It breaks my heart that my family, and particularly my father and sister, continue to suffer from the anxiety that comes along with this diagnosis as we know all too well what the end result could be.”
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