Karl-Anthony Towns’ shot profile is a growing concern for Knicks
The greatest offensive basketball players know where their shots are coming from. Some even consider it a science. Seven points per quarter, for example, was Michael Jordan’s calculation for an easy 28 points per game, an equation that Carmelo Anthony later copied to average the same number three times during his NBA Hall of Fame career.
Yet as we approach the halfway point of the Knicks’ inaugural season under new head coach Mike Brown, there is no rhyme, reason or rhythm to the way Karl-Anthony Towns gets his shots — if they ever come at all.
Friday’s 112-107 loss to the Phoenix Suns is a prime example: Towns won’t complain about shot attempts, and Brown prioritizes ball and body movement over shot distribution, but the Knicks’ star 7-footer shot just 5 of 11 from the field for 15 points, 12 rebounds and five assists on the night against Mark Williams, an excellent defensive center Phoenix acquired from Charlotte Hornets but who, obviously, did not change the situation in the center. place.
Towns took one shot each in the second and fourth quarters Friday. It’s a trend that’s been evident since Brown took on the head coaching role.
Towns may have been hidden in Tom Thibodeau’s Knicks offense last season, but he was still getting volume in decent doses. He now averages 2.5 fewer field goal attempts per game year over year. As a reminder, Jalen Brunson takes three more shots per night compared to last season (although the trend has changed in recent games). Miles McBride’s field goal attempts are also up, while Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby have also seen their shots drop.
“I’m going to continue to shoot and make room for my teammates. I’m going to continue to try to have as much impact as possible to win and be the best I can in that role,” Towns said after the loss. “Getting my teammates involved, moving the ball, changing the defense and giving the whole team the space to exploit my passing gravity. I’m trying to do my best in my role and have an impact on winning. Tonight it’s a shame we didn’t do enough to win. I think we did a great job putting ourselves in a position to win, so that’s more disappointing.”
Yet no Knicks player is more decorated than Towns, a five-time NBA All-Star, three-time All-NBA Third Team member, 2016 Rookie of the Year and 2022 3-point champion (the only center to win the All-Star Weekend event). And no player has seen a reduction in offensive role as drastic as Towns in Brown’s offense which leans heavily toward guard play.
The Knicks can’t win like that. Not with $53 million committed to Towns this season, $57 million for the 2026-27 season, plus a $61 million player option for 2027-28.
And here are some damning numbers Brown can show his team during practice: Towns ranks seventh on the Knicks in first-quarter field goal attempts over the team’s last 10 games with fewer than three shots (2.8) in the opening period. For reference, rookie Mohamed Diawara averages three shot attempts in the first quarter, Bridges and Anunoby average a hair on three shots, McBride is at 3.5 and Brunson is at 7.2.
Towns made one shot in the first quarter of the loss to the 76ers, no field goals in the first and fourth quarters of the loss to the Detroit Pistons, and two field goals each in the second and third quarters against the San Antonio Spurs and quarters two through four against the New Orleans Pelicans.
There may be a simple solution hidden in plain sight: put Towns on a shooting diet and force-feed him the ball. Four shots per quarter brings Towns to his career average of 16 field goal attempts per game. Towns has attempted 16 or more field goals in just 13 of the 35 games he has played this season.
Which means the Knicks are wasting their investment in one of the greatest scorers of all time, the player they traded Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to acquire in a deal that was supposed to both increase this team’s offensive ceiling and take the scoring pressure off Brunson’s shoulders.
Cities, of course, are not blameless. Shaquille O’Neal, after all, would eliminate his teammates and play one-on-five before letting them freeze him out of the offense. Cities, on the contrary, often disappear from the scoring side. He’s letting the lack of fouls take him out of his game. And he’s also not converting open threes at a rate worthy of his self-proclaimed title as the best shooter in NBA history. He’s below 35% from deep for the first time since his rookie season and is shooting 9.1% from deep (3-of-16) in the new calendar year.
It’s hard to get into a rhythm when you don’t know where our shots are coming from, when you’re just a footnote, an afterthought in an offense designed to make shots come faster and more frequently than ever before.
Which means it’s time for the Knicks to restore order. It’s time for the Knicks to take advantage of their highest-paid player. Because why are you spending all that money to have Towns as woefully underutilized as he has been this season?
