For the most part, Karl-Anthony Towns has been as advertised.
Elite shooter? Check.
Versatile scorer? Check.
Solid defensive rebounder? Check.
Shaky defender/rim protector? Check.
But there’s an element to his game that has proven surprising to even his teammates.
“He’s even a better passer than I thought,” Josh Hart said recently in the visiting locker room in Detroit, just as Towns cranked up “One In a Million” by the late/great Aaliyah. “Now he’s over there playing R&B in a room full of half-naked men.”
So Towns has a soft side to his musical taste and a soft touch with a basketball, but he reminded reporters that the passing prowess is hardly new — “I’ve done that pass 100 times. I’ve been doing this in Minnesota.”
And the 29-year-old has a point.
Entering Monday, he was averaging considerably fewer assists (3.0) than his best with the T-Wolves, which included three seasons of more than 4.4 per game. But it’s not the numbers that are raising eyebrows in New York.
It’s the style.
In Detroit, it was a no-look and behind-the-head dish to a cutting Jalen Brunson for a layup.
Against Milwaukee, it was a fake pass into a no-look over his head to OG Anunoby.
In Philly, it was a no-look under the basket to Mikal Bridges.
Against the Nets on Sunday, it was over the head from the 3-point line to Anunoby for the jam.
Asked about the latest highlight, Towns referenced two names you wouldn’t expect coming from someone born in 1995.
“I wear No. 32, I grew up a big Magic Johnson fan. So just watching the way he made his teammates better,” the 29-year-old said. “And I was blessed to meet and talk to Arvydas Sabonis over in Venezuela.”
Sabonis, a Lithuanian who dominated international basketball in the 1980s, is considered among the greatest, if not the greatest, playmaking 7-footer. He was Nikola Jokic before Nikola Jokic.
Towns, as he told The Post, met Sabonis in a Venezuela hotel during the 2012 FIBA Qualifying tournament. At the time, Sabonis, who finished his playing career with the Trail Blazers in 2003, was president of the Lithuanian team.
Towns was just 16 years old and trying to lift the Dominican Republic into the Olympics.
“I had heard murmurs about this guy that was this good,” Towns told The Post. “And then got to meet him and we all stayed in the same hotel. All the teams. And I actually got to stand and talk to him and he introduced me to his son, who I didn’t know and it ended up being [Sacramento Kings All-Star] Domantas. So it’s pretty cool. I mean, me and Domantas still talk about it.”
The meeting included lessons on passing — “life and ball,” Towns said — and motivation for a teenager to find clips of Sabonis.
A YouTube search today uncovers highlights strikingly similar to Towns’ passes from the post.
“YouTube was not as abundant then. So finding tape on him was difficult,” Towns said. “But to talk to him and hear the way he thinks — I was young and just soaking up all the knowledge and game he was giving me and on top of that to have people on my Dominican team, a lot of them played overseas. So they were able to play against him and able to watch him and I just got to hear from them.”
But developing Sabonis’ vision required much more than absorbing Internet videos.
Towns needed reps, as Tom Thibodeau can attest after coaching the center at two different stops and at two different phases of his career.
“Now he really sees things,” Thibodeau said. “He understands what the defense is trying to do. He knows when there’s over-help. He’s seeing the whole floor now. Initially, like most young guys, the vision was more narrow. It may have been on one guy. But now he sees more than one guy. He sees the defense. He sees where everybody is. If there’s an over-help, he can fake here and throw there. And that goes a long way.”