Foul trouble has emerged as a problem for Towns, and is forcing coach Mike Brown to take him out of games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Karl-Anthony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2253337951.jpg\")
Karl-Anthony Towns of the New York Knicks acknowledges fans in the fourth quarter of the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center on December 23, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Getty Images<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not as if these fouls are coming as the result of protecting the rim and forcing opponents to earn their points at the free throw line. <\/p>\n
Over 30 percent of them have been offensive fouls, resulting in Knicks turnovers. Towns has recorded 30 offensive fouls this year \u2014 most in the NBA, and six more than the next-highest. <\/p>\n
Three of his six fouls on Tuesday were offensive \u2014 that\u2019s three possessions that resulted in zero points because of avoidable mistakes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They have largely come from illegal screens and using his off-hand to push and hook defenders while trying to drive to the rim.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brown called it out unprompted after Tuesday\u2019s loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251223_djc_aj5_180.jpg\")
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) lreacts after a foul is called against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second half at Target Center. Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just has to continue to try to not pick up cheap fouls,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHad a couple of cheap fouls where he led with his hands or he hooked a guy. Now, we have to sit him for x amount of minutes when he needs to be on the floor. So, 40 [points] and 13 [rebounds], it doesn\u2019t surprise me at all, because he\u2019s more than capable. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut if you\u2019re gonna be a great player, and I\u2019m sure he does too, we expect more from him so he can be out on that floor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
James Nnaji, a 7-foot center who played with the Knicks in Summer League, is utilizing a loophole and joining Baylor, according to multiple reports. The NCAA granted him four years of eligibility. He is immediately eligible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The No. 31 pick in the 2023 draft, the Knicks acquired his draft rights from the Hornets as part of the three-team Towns trade while Nnaji played overseas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This past summer, he left Europe to try and earn a spot on the Knicks roster, but failed to do so. The Knicks still own his draft rights, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the new Wild West of college sports, it presents a bizarre situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby\u2019s absence Tuesday opened the door for rare playing time for Pac\u00f4me Dadiet and Kevin McCullar Jr. It also meant more minutes for Ariel Hukporti and Mohamed Diawara, who play more than those other two but are still on the fringes of the rotation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brown wasn\u2019t thrilled with their showing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cOur young guys, they gotta be ready,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThat\u2019s what this league is about. You\u2019re missing bodies, next man\u2019s gotta step up. And again, I thought [the Timberwolves\u2019] physicality blowing up our [dribble handoffs], fighting through passing lanes and us not doing any counters \u2014 like, if somebody gets my body and I\u2019m about to come off a DHO, just pick it up and make cuts to the basket. You\u2019re playing for the next guy. But we continually tried to give it to that guy and they blew up the DHO or they got to us when we dribbled and took it from us or however it may be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Cavaliers upgraded Evan Mobley to questionable to face the Knicks for Thursday\u2019s Christmas Day game at Madison Square Garden. He\u2019s missed the last five games with a calf injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For as talented a scorer he is, one Karl-Anthony Towns tendency is constantly ruining offensive possessions.\u00a0 He fouled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1555,21,9,11,1104,10,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-80677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}