“It is my professional opinion that now is the time to PANIC!“
After the New York Knicks’ utterly embarrassing double-digit loss to a previously 10-30 Sacramento Kings team, things are quickly spiraling out of control for the NBA’s pre-season Eastern Conference favorites, who are 2-6 with a -6.4 point differential over their last eight games.
Knicks fans are growing frustrated, worried, and every emotion in between. At this point, the hysteria is justified.
Especially when it comes to Karl-Anthony Towns.
After Towns’ performance in New York’s loss last night (technically this morning, if you’re on the east coast), it is fair to begin having serious discussions about whether the Knicks can realistically win a championship with Towns as part of their core—or even match last year’s run to the Eastern Conference Finals, for that matter.
Towns hits rock bottom
Towns has been mired in a semi-disappointing season for the Knicks dating all the way back to his peculiar pre-season press conferences, in which he seemed uncertain about his role in Mike Brown’s offense. Since the season began, Towns has posted some of the worst shooting numbers of his career, although he has remained an efficient offensive player and a reliable double-double machine.
Still, Towns’ production has been nowhere close to where it needs to be for New York to compete for a championship. He is shooting a career-low 52.3% from inside the arc, while his 35.3% conversion rate from deep is the second-worst mark of his career.
Sacramento’s lowly defense was supposed to be the perfect matchup for Towns to build some confidence. Entering the game, the Kings were allowing league-worst 59% shooting on two-point attempts, including a league-worst 75.4% conversion rate on attempts within three feet of the basket. For Towns, who is shooting a career-low 60.8% from within three feet, the Kings’ soft interior defense was just what the doctor ordered.
Until it wasn’t.
The Kings shut Towns down, holding him to 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting in 33 minutes. Towns tried to exploit Sacramento’s weak interior defense, taking 13 of his 14 shots from inside the arc, but he went just 5-of-13 on two-point shots, a gross underperformance against a team with league-worst rim protection.
With Jalen Brunson exiting the game early in the first quarter, this was a golden opportunity for Towns to assert himself. The green light was on for three-and-a-half quarters against the softest interior defense in basketball. You could not dream up a more favorable opportunity for Towns to get back on track in the areas where he’s been struggling.
Yet, he came up small.
In fact, the softest thing on the court was not Sacramento’s interior defense; it was Towns.
Worse than Towns’ shooting was his effort. Although he set a career-high with five steals, Towns had only four rebounds against a Kings team that ranks dead-last in the NBA with a 47.1 rebounding percentage. There were also some ghastly examples of lollygagging on defense, which Brown called out after the game.
Over his last eight games, Towns is having perhaps his worst stretch as a Knick:
- 16.1 points per game
- 9.0 rebounds per game
- 3.4 assists per game
- 2.9 turnovers per game
- 3.4 fouls per game
- 43.2% field goals
- 31.0% three-point (3.6 attempts per game)
- 48.5% two-point
- 84.4% free throws (5.6 attempts per game)
- -5.1 plus-minus per game
When your defensive ceiling is capped at below-average even on your best day, this type of offensive production is inexcusable. And over this stretch, Towns’ defense has not even been below-average; it’s been abysmal.
Over Towns’ last eight games, the Knicks are allowing 124.8 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court, the worst mark in the NBA among big men since Dec. 31 (min. 25 minutes per game).
Towns will never be a good defender. The same goes for Jalen Brunson. With the two of them together, the Knicks’ defensive ceiling will always have a firm cap below the league’s elite tier. However, by pairing them with two top-tier wing defenders in OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, the Knicks’ ideal formula is to at least field a respectable defense, allowing them to thrive on the strength of a league-best (or close to it) offense.
It’s not the best formula for winning a championship, but it’s doable, most recently proven by the 2023 Nuggets. That year, Denver won a title after ranking fifth in offensive rating and 15th in defensive rating. The Knicks are trying to emulate that formula, and they need Towns to be at the heart of it by playing competent defense and elite offense.
Right now, Towns is playing atrocious defense and mediocre offense. He isn’t meeting expectations on either side of the court, and the Knicks’ overall performance on both ends is a direct reflection of his individual performance.
If the Knicks cannot quickly devise an in-house solution to field an elite basketball team with Towns on their roster, the franchise may have to make a major decision ahead of Feb. 5.
