Karl-Anthony Towns (right) says he has a new appreciation for Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau.

Karl-Anthony Towns’ mind raced. Fact is, the news that he had been traded on the brink of training camp last fall from the only NBA team for which he had played, the Minnesota Timberwolves, to … the New York Knicks? … hit both his head and his heart.

Thoughts and images pushed forward, flash cards popping up, replaced immediately by others. Scenes and moments from Towns’ life to that point, stray thoughts on what was coming. Fast.

His hometown of Edison, N.J. Madison Square Garden. Orange and blue. The Wolves. His mother, Jacqueline. Other family members he had lost to COVID-19 starting in April 2020. Flip Saunders, the man who had drafted him, was gone as well.

Target Center. Manhattan. Expectations. Jalen Brunson. Mike Breen. His father, Karl Sr. Knicks training camp. He needs to pack. Goodbyes. Hellos. What’s for lunch?

At some point, the rapid-fire slideshow landed on a shot of Tom Thibodeau.

Oh yeah. Thibs.

As his breathing deepened and his mind relaxed, Towns was able to impose some order on his thinking. Thibodeau loomed large. They had worked together before, spending over two seasons together in Minnesota from 2016 to early 2019, and now they would do so again. Coach and star player, reunited on an even bigger stage with far loftier goals.

For better or worse, challenge or opportunity, KAT-Thibs 2.0 was going to make or break the 2024-25 Knicks’ season and postseason.

“He’s a different man. I’m a different man,” Towns said recently. “At this point in our careers, we’re different people.”

Thibodeau laughed when that was relayed to him. “Yeah, because I’m a lot older, too,” the coach said.

The first Thibodeau and Towns pairing

Tom Thibodeau and young phenom Karl-Anthony Towns were together in Minnesota from 2016-19.

Their first go-round never went toxic like some other notorious pairings — Latrell Sprewell/P.J. Carlesimo, Magic Johnson/Paul Westhead, Ray Allen/George Karl — but it turned bumpy and ended raw.

Towns blossomed under or with Thibodeau, choose your preposition, from 2016’s Kia Rookie of the Year into an All-Star and an All-NBA selection. In Year 2, with teammates including Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler, the other Wolves players and Thibodeau’s staff, the franchise ended a 14-year drought between playoff appearances.

Then it all unraveled. The biggest thread got pulled by Jimmy Butler, a favorite of Thibodeau during their time together in Chicago. In the second of what would be four NBA dramas before landing his current gig in Golden State, Butler bristled over Towns’ and Wiggins’ preeminence in Minnesota’s grand scheme, pushed his contract desires, and eventually, his trade demand was heeded.

Thibodeau got fired at 19-21. The Wolves slipped back as also-rans. Towns maintained, putting up points, polishing his 3-point game, but was done by mid-April for the next three years.

Fast forward to 2024: Towns and his crew, under coach Chris Finch, had strung together three straight postseason berths. They rallied in Game 7 in Denver to beat the defending champion Nuggets. The Wolves were eliminated by Dallas 11 days later, but had reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2004.

The emotional fellow known as KAT had adapted to and seemingly overcome several more hurdles by then. From rival center Rudy Gobert’s arrival in 2022 as part of GM Tim Connelly’s twin-tower vision to precocious Anthony Edwards’ rise as the squad’s face and No. 1 offensive option. On top of all the changes and setbacks in his life off the court.

Then, wham, the trade.

Towns was shocked. “Maybe the word ‘flabbergasted’ is more correct,” he later said.

Thibodeau: ‘As a player, he’s a lot different’

Karl-Anthony Towns has stepped his game up under the bright lights on Broadway, relieving the burden carried by Jalen Brunson.

The Knicks, their front office led by Leon Rose, Towns’ first agent, had coveted the big fellow for a while. But free agent Isaiah Hartenstein’s departure to Oklahoma City and yet another serious injury to rim protector Mitchell Robinson turned New York’s center situation dire.

The Towns-Thibodeau reunion thus was born of necessity, at a hefty price that cost the Knicks Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Draft capital and some heavy lifting by the team’s salary capologists to absorb Towns’ new supermax contract extension.

“When we lost Isaiah and we knew Mitch was going to be out, that changed what our needs were,” Thibodeau said after a recent stop in Charlotte. “It was hard to make the trade because of what Julius and Donte meant to our team. But it was pressing for our team. We gave up good players to get a good player.”

As might be expected in plugging the sweet-shooting Towns, the Knicks perked up from seventh to fifth in offensive efficiency and dipped from ninth to 13th defensively. They incorporated not just Towns but Mikal Bridges as new pieces, navigated around motor Jalen Brunson’s lost month (ankle sprain) from March to April, and at 51-31, won one more game than a year ago. As the East’s No. 3 seed, they face Detroit in the first round (Game 1, Saturday at 6 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Towns, 29, fit comfortably into his role, putting up familiar numbers — 24.4 ppg, 12.8 rpg, 52.6% shooting, 42% on 3-pointers — that likely will earn him a third All-NBA selection. His 3-point attempts (4.7) were off from recent years, but he shot enough to open the floor the way the Knicks and Brunson envisioned.

Towns’ work in the pick-and-roll also became a force in New York’s attack. And a Wolves insider who studied his game from the start sees the 7-footer as a better post player now, setting up, holding his spot, doing his work early and all those other classic “bigs” things.

“As a player, he’s a lot different,” Thibodeau said. “His understanding of the league. Making sacrifices for the team, putting the team first. Which I think is somewhat natural — young guys when they first come in, they want to get themselves established first. Then, as time goes on, they understand that you can’t do that by yourself.

“I think he showed that in Minnesota. When they got Rudy, his willingness to move to the power forward position. Then, with Ant, to sacrifice some of his scoring so the team could be better. They got to the Western Conference Finals. I think he understands that part a lot more.”

Towns: ‘It’s great to be back with Thibs’

The trigger for most of the friction between player and coach, Butler, is long gone. Towns said he sought out Thibodeau years ago after a Wolves-Knicks game to mend their relations. By the time of the trade, there was curiosity over this renewal but no dread. Both had moved on.

“Timing is everything,” Towns said, “and right now, we’re at a really good time. We rekindled our work relationship, and we can be a better version of ourselves.

“He’s a funny guy, and he’s a great guy to hang out with. So it’s really cool that people have been able to see a different side of Thibs than what they’ve been seeing.”

When Towns speaks of his coach now, he does so as a proven NBA veteran. He sounds almost like a son who’s now grown and talking about his dad. There is perspective. Wisdom. Appreciation, understanding, even a little twinkle.

“Yeah, just because we’ve had so much experience with each other,” Towns said. “Over time, you get closer and closer. It’s great to be back with Thibs. I remembered the coach who put so much time and work into his team and his players. I’ve always respected him.”

Interestingly, Towns might find himself back in a Minnesota-reminiscent position this postseason, logging minutes in tandem with the recovered Robinson in a two-bigs lineup not unlike his work alongside Gobert. Thibodeau, still a defense-first guy, liked glimpses of that pairing down the stretch and might try it against Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart/Jalen Duren combo or others.

Might work, might not. There are also questions about the Knicks’ overall playoff potential, which imposes pressure on this postseason. Towns was touted as one of the last pieces of the puzzle. Ten seasons in, he’s getting antsy to run down a ring, at least reach an NBA Finals.

Knicks fans are eager as well, at least to match or better their team’s run to the conference semifinals last spring, when they flamed out in seven games against Indiana. That has the coach under a bright light, too.

Whatever happens, it isn’t likely to split the new bond and trust between Towns and Thibodeau. For all their differences, both are driven by similar things.

“That’s what I love about who he is,” said Thibodeau, 67. “He’s never satisfied, he always wants to do things better.

“He’s always been such a gifted scorer at all three levels. But his passing now, he understands better where the double teams are coming from. He understands the players in the league a lot better. He also understands the schemes that they play against him, what other teams are trying to get to.

“So he’s grown a lot. None of it has surprised me.”

The Knicks feel good about the two men, knowing that every marriage has a honeymoon. Even a second one.

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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.

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