It’s common to see children dream of playing in the NBA Finals for their favorite team. Rarely do they get this opportunity. Except for Karl-Anthony Towns.<\/p>\n
Towns, the New Jersey native, grew up as a major Knicks<\/a> fan who dreamed of suiting up to play in Madison Square Garden. Since a midseason trade in 2024, Towns has gotten the chance to live out this very dream.<\/p>\n However, the NBA Finals drought has been lengthy for the Knicks. The last time the Knicks made it this far, Towns hadn’t even begun elementary school.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here’s what to know on how Towns became a major Knicks fan.<\/p>\n MORE: When was the last time the Knicks won an NBA Championship?<\/a><\/p>\n Is Karl-Anthony Towns a Knicks fan?<\/p>\n Growing up in New Jersey, Towns was a New York Knicks fan as a child. He was born in November 1995, meaning he was just three years old the last time the Knicks made the NBA Finals. Now, he’s playing in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Playing knightly at the Garden, the Mecca of basketball, has been a longtime dream,” Towns told\u00a0Sports Illustrated\u00a0in 2025<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Towns was eager to join his local team, and has enjoyed<\/a>\u00a0the chance to play in front of his family more often.\u00a0<\/p>\n The moment that cemented his intense fandom for the Knicks was the “Linsanity” run of 2012, where Knicks guard Jeremy Lin went on an underdog rise to stardom before crashing back down to Earth.\u00a0<\/p>\n Inside Karl-Anthony Towns’ Knicks fandom<\/p>\n With the Nets<\/a> in town as well, growing up in New Jersey doesn’t always make a Knicks fan out of every child. For Towns, it was his family that instilled that love. His father, Karl Sr., was invited to the Knicks’ training camp before Karl Jr. was born, but did not make the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n Towns also grew up loving the Knicks because of his mother, who passed away<\/a> due to COVID in April of 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I am honored to play for the team my mother loved; she was a huge Knicks fan and my father\u2019s past relationship with the team is a full-circle moment for me. I am proud to be a New York Knick.” Towns told\u00a0SI.\u00a0<\/p>\n Towns cites Jeremy Lin as a childhood favorite, especially after a recent video of Lin wearing a Towns Knicks jersey.\u00a0<\/p>\n “[Lin] made me so passionate about the Knicks and it’s crazy now that I’m in this position, in this chair, talking to you as a Knicks player,” Towns said in a recent press conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n The rivalry between the Knicks and Spurs<\/a> is nothing new to Towns. While he may hardly remember the 1999 NBA Finals, he wore a 1999 Finals shirt<\/a> to his first game as a Knick back in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n Karl-Anthony Towns arrived in a 1999 NBA Finals shirt tonight \ud83d\udd25 pic.twitter.com\/H4QOuLzAn1<\/a><\/p>\n