LOS ANGELES — Karl-Anthony Towns sat down on the bench and looked to his left to exchange a few words with Jimmy Butler about the game that was about to begin.
It’s happened over and over again this season, but Sunday certainly was different. Towns and Butler had the Timberwolves logo on their chests, but the jerseys were the black and white of Team Stephen. They were All-Stars this time around, and the significance of that wasn’t lost on anyone.
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While the game itself is meaningless and has often been derided for a lack of competitiveness, it was a watershed moment for a franchise that has long been an afterthought on All-Star Sunday.
The two T-Wolves couldn’t be much different when it comes to personalities, upbringings and the paths each took to becoming All-Stars. Yet there they were, sharing the court at Staples Center and giving hope to fans back home that the days of being viewed as a basketball Siberia are over.
Towns had 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds in 18 minutes of his All-Star debut. Butler did not play in his fourth trip to one of the league’s showcase events, preferring to rest a body that has taken quite a beating over the first 61 games of the season.
#KarlTowns takes flight ✈️ pic.twitter.com/YnsVdgYNNx
— Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) February 19, 2018
“It was awesome to be part of the game and it was amazing to really have a chance to represent my teammates,” Towns said. “To be regarded as one of the best, especially with my teammate Jimmy, was awesome.”
Towns sure looks like a player who won’t be one-and-done for All-Star weekend. He possesses all of the tools to become a fixture just like Butler, giving them something in common as they build a relationship still in its infancy.
The early days haven’t always been easy as two players who sit on opposite ends of the give-a-damn meter search for common ground. But their willingness to tailor their games to accommodate each other has helped the Wolves climb out of the cold, dank basement of irrelevancy and into the warm, inviting den of the Western Conference playoff picture.
If they can continue to strengthen that connection over the final 21 games of the regular season, the Wolves could not only make their first playoff appearance since All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell led them to the Western Conference finals in 2004, but they could lock up homecourt advantage in the first round while doing it.
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“You just gotta allow him to be who he is and allow me to be who I am,” Butler said. “Know at times that we’ll clash, but it’s only because we both want to win. We’re not going to see eye-to-eye on everything. But as much as he’ll help me, I’ll help him grow in the same way.”
Butler is the ultimate grinder with razor-sharp edges created by a youth spent battling homelessness and a climb to the top that went through junior college, the very bottom of the first round of the NBA Draft and a rookie season spent buried on Tom Thibodeau’s bench in Chicago.
Towns is everyone’s All-American, the almost-too-polished member of the league’s new unicorn class who comes from a loving, two-parent household, spent one year of college at powerhouse Kentucky, was the No. 1 overall draft pick and rookie of the year and has piled up the points and accolades from the minute he first stepped on an NBA court.
They grew up worlds apart. Now they’ve come together in Minnesota. And they know they need each other if the Wolves are going to break the longest active playoff drought in the league.
“The biggest thing is you understand Jimmy’s story. I feel for him but also at the same time I don’t treat him any different,” Towns said. “He’s a human being and you give him a lot of respect for doing what he’s done.
“For me and Jimmy, we understand that we want to win. We have that kind of relationship where we understand that every day we want to come in and be the best at our craft. We have to utilize that competitive fire and mindset to benefit each other.”
The All-Star experience served as another reminder of how these two operate differently. During media day on Saturday, Butler was asked how excited he was to play in the game with so many of the league’s best.
“Excited? I’m so excited,” Butler said, his voice drenched in sarcasm. “So excited for the All-Star game.”
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He’s been there and done that and has little use or interest in an exhibition with little to no defense and halfhearted efforts.
“If we’re going out there and competing, I’m even more excited. But if we’re going to go out there and shoot? I don’t know,” Butler said. “I just want to see the best go up against the best. I get it. I understand why you don’t play that hard. But just think how much attention you’re drawing when you’re going at it — that’s a game a lot of people really want to see.”
The game was more competitive than usual on Sunday, with Towns and Butler’s team losing to Team LeBron, 148-145.
Butler has adopted Los Angeles as his hometown and spends all summer there working on his game. He spent most of the party-filled weekend chilling at his crib with his close circle of friends and was only too happy to sit out the game.
This clearly meant much more to Towns, and rightfully so. It was his first time and came one year after he was bitterly disappointed at being passed over. It marked a validation for what he’s always believed — that he belongs with the best.
Towns recorded the reactions of his parents, Karl and Jacqueline, and his girlfriend, Kawahine Andrade, as the watched the announcement of the All-Star reserves and was overwhelmed when Andrade’s excitement made it seem as though “she won it herself.”
“Just to see my parents so proud of the moment, for them it was more about all those days of being in the gym and missing little events,” Towns said. “They can say their son is officially one of the best in the world and it meant a lot to them. It’s a very humbling experience when your parents, anytime you have kids and you see your kids doing really well in the world and how proud they are and happy that their son is doing well.”
Just as he did in college and in his first season in the NBA, Towns’ impact in his first All-Star game was immediate.
First @NBAAllStar shot attempt, first bucket for #KarlTowns! #AllEyesNorth pic.twitter.com/xODn6RfyLF
— Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) February 19, 2018
“This is good for him, to be here, let him know that he’s at the top of this league and he’s around the best,” Butler said. “It’s a big growth and a step to greatness. He’s right there.”
The more time Butler and Towns spend around each other, the easier it will be for them to find that connection that can help strengthen that partnership. Even though Towns grew up with two loving parents in Piscataway, New Jersey, things were far from perfect.
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When Towns was a boy, the family sometimes needed to get meals from their church as they struggled to make ends meet.
“All those times when you see canned food given to churches and you wonder where it goes, it was going to me,” Towns said.
Personality and background differences aside, Towns’ father sees a basic hunger for success as the tie that will bind the two All-Stars.
“They’re both competitors and they both want to win for Minnesota,” Karl Towns said. “That’s why it’s working because they’ve got the same objective. We all need each other to win. You’ve got all these new guys. They just needed to jell.
“Jimmy’s as happy for Karl as Karl is for himself. Karl was willing to sacrifice for the team, and that’s why it’s working. People can see it now. When they’re on that court, they’re one. That’s why we’re 36-25.”
Now that the game is over, Towns and Butler can return to Minnesota to gear up for a run that will test them to the fullest. They are in a jam-packed cluster of eight teams all jockeying for the final six playoff spots in the West.
What has emerged over the first 61 games of the season is a clear pecking order, with Butler and Towns at the top, Andrew Wiggins as the third option and Taj Gibson, Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford filling in the cracks that remain.
It’s going to be a street fight to the finish. In a star-driven league, having a one-two punch like Butler and Towns could be what separates the Wolves down the stretch. Of those teams currently seeded 3-10 in the West, only Oklahoma City and Minnesota had two All-Stars in Los Angeles.
The looming grind is exactly why Butler decided to sit out on Sunday. He knows the gauntlet that awaits, and how important he is to that pursuit, and he wasn’t about to let something as trivial as an All-Star game get in the way.
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“I gotta rest my body up,” Butler said. “I know that this Timberwolves season is very, very important to me. I’ve got to make sure that I’m ready to roll when I get back there.”
(Top image: Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns gave the Timberwolves their first pair of All-Stars since Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell in 2004. Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn/USA Today Sports)
