How Karl-Anthony Towns handles new system will be Knicks key

In a training camp defined by the Knicks implementing Mike Brown’s system, Karl-Anthony Towns and Guerschon Yabusele have the most difficult jobs. They’re the ones who could play either the four or the five, and in Brown’s offense, playing the four actually means that spots one through four on the floor become interchangeable.

So, essentially, they need to know everything. The stakes are lower for Yabusele, signed to provide a spark off the bench.

But for Towns, now on his third system in three years after 2023-24 with the Timberwolves and 2024-25 at the Garden, the Knicks’ ability to reach their ceiling will rely on Towns acclimating, finding a rhythm and resembling the version of the unique center — a 7-footer who can consistently hit 3-pointers — that has shaped his career. Right now, that’s “taking up a ton of his thought process,” Brown said.

“Not only is he trying to get a rhythm,” Brown said after the Knicks practiced Tuesday, “but he’s trying to figure out what the hell he’s supposed to do when he’s at the five as opposed to when he’s at the four.”

He has trusted that Towns will find his flow eventually. That he’ll move around to the different spots.

That he’ll keep the defenses guessing. In Year 2 with the Knicks, Towns will be tasked with producing an encore replicating bottom-line results from Year 1 — the best offensive rating of his career (119.4), his most points per game (24.4) since 2021-22 — while ensuring that his 3-point prowess doesn’t disappear at times.

“They’re both doing a fantastic job trying to adjust,” Brown said of Towns and Yabusele, “but it’s going to take them a little longer than everybody else just because they’re playing both of the positions within the framework of our offense — and so their learning curve’s gonna have to be a lot steeper than anybody else’s.”

Through 34 combined minutes in two preseason games, Towns attempted just two 3-pointers, didn’t make one and managed 17 points on eight shots.

---

---

At different points last season, the defining strength of Towns’ skill set went missing. He sank more than two 3s in just four of the postseason games.

His 3-point percentage cratered from 42.0 percent during the regular season — his best mark since 2018 — to 35.1 in the tournament.

Sometimes, he faded into the background of the Knicks offense altogether.

And when paired with his worst defensive rating since 2020-21 (114.7), it led to plenty of criticism. It was the give and take of having Towns on the court.

Under Brown, though, the Knicks plan to keep moving him around — and that, Brown said, will allow the 29-year-old to flourish.

He could be executing a pick-and-roll one possession and trailing during another. He could be at the center spot, too. If Mitchell Robinson shares the court with him, Towns will slide to the four.

Ex-head coach Tom Thibodeau experimented with that combination more during the postseason last year, and Brown started both Robinson and Towns during the Knicks’ pair of exhibitions.

“It’s hard to tee off and double-team or to measure up how you’re gonna play him because he’s all over the place at all times,” Brown said.

But that potential — and the acceptance of growing pains along the way — can only mask the need for results for so long. Towns wasted no time adjusting last season, averaging 25.8 points, 12.7 rebounds, a 54.0 percent shooting clip from the field and a 46.8 percent rate from beyond the arc by the end of November.

In the eyes of Malcolm Brogdon, Towns has proven he’s the greatest shooting center ever. Towns even said it himself during a 2021 interview with The Athletic.

The numbers have backed it up, and at plenty of points during the 2024-25 campaign — the five 3s against the Pistons during Game 4, the seven 3s against the Hawks on Feb. 12 — Towns flashed his vintage form. He can shoot shots from beyond the arc “like guards do,” Brogdon said.

Eventually, after the adjustment is complete, Towns will again rely on his strengths for the Knicks. He’ll get his shots and get his 3s and have plays designed by Brown to specifically create space for him.

“It’s super important to get his confidence and keep his confidence at an all-time high throughout the season if this team wants to achieve what we think we can achieve,” Brogdon said of Towns getting into a rhythm early. “He’s one of the great players in the league. It’s really that simple.”

It just might take time.