Karl-Anthony Towns tests positive, Timberwolves’ game postponed
Jan 15, 2021, 7:18 PM
Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns is shown during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, whose mother and six other relatives have died from COVID-19, said on Friday he has tested positive.
“I pray every day that this nightmare of a virus will subside and I beg everyone to take it seriously by taking all of the necessary precautions,” Towns wrote on social media.
The Timberwolves’ game with the Memphis Grizzlies was called off under two hours before tip-off.
Minnesota’s next game on the schedule is Monday, the league’s traditional game on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Atlanta. The news that any player has the virus would be crushing, and that it was Towns was particularly so given what his family has endured.
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“Karl is the most important part of this organization,” Timberwolves president Gersson Rosas said. “For what he’s gone through, what Karl Sr.’s gone through, it couldn’t be more heartbreaking today.”
The current tally of postponements: 13 since the start of the season, 12 of them — involving 16 of the NBA’s 30 teams — since Sunday alone. Washington has seen four of its games pushed back, Boston and Phoenix have had three postponements. The Celtics returned to the floor Friday night against Orlando, Boston’s first game in a week.
