Karl-Anthony Towns wears Coat Burberry. Suit and Shirt Thom Browne. Brooches The Jewelry Library. Watch Karl’s Own.
For a few surreal weeks this summer, all of New York became one. The Knicks, one of the most cursed franchises in all of sports, turned decades of disappointment into pure delirium, as the city became a collection of packed sports bars and sweaty watch parties. At the center of it all was Karl-Anthony Towns, a Jersey kid who came to New York two years ago, and unlike so many of his predecessors, did not melt under the bright lights of Broadway. Instead, he rose to the challenge and played a crucial role in delivering the Knicks their first championship in 53 years. A month later, Towns, who recently got engaged to influencer Jordyn Woods, tells Knicks superfan Ben Stiller he still can’t quite believe it happened.
TUESDAY 4 PM JUL. 14, 2026 NYC
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BEN STILLER: How are you doing, man?
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: I’m good, man.
STILLER: Where are you?
TOWNS: I’m in New York.
STILLER: Nice to see you.
TOWNS: Nice to see you too. We haven’t seen each other since you was rocking that parade. Rocking that dope shirt, too. I gotta get you the new one.
STILLER: I’d love that.
TOWNS: Oh, wait, I got to go get my Stiller’s Soda.
STILLER: I love it.
TOWNS: If we’re going to do it, let’s do it right.
STILLER: How has your championship summer been?
TOWNS: It’s been cool. [Laughs]
STILLER: [Laughs] It’s been like a month, and you texted me last week saying you keep forgetting you guys won.
TOWNS: I still do.
STILLER: What’s that feeling?
TOWNS: It’s like a decompression, because I’ve chased this goal my entire life. Now you’re telling me I actually did it, and it’s over, and there’s no more basketball games? That doesn’t make sense. When you accomplish something you’ve put your whole life towards, you’re like, “Wait, I can’t look forward to that anymore?”
STILLER: What happens when you finally reach your goal?
TOWNS: It’s weird. I’m putting all my focus into being a startup businessman, like you.
STILLER: Do you compartmentalize? Are you able to say, “I’m going to take a month off and not think about basketball?”
TOWNS: It’s hard. It’s one of the things I’m struggling with. This is the first off-season where I haven’t been able to get that vacation to detach from basketball, because usually you lose in the playoffs. There’s no parade, there’s no celebration.
STILLER: I have the same feeling. You’re used to the season ending in pain.
Jacket and Shirt Thom Browne. Earring and Watch Karl’s Own. Brooch The Jewelry Library.
TOWNS: Yeah. Usually you skip this month of interviews and all the stuff that comes with winning a championship, let alone in New York. You’re getting away from basketball, getting away from the world, resetting as a person, and then coming back from vacation and being like, “What do I need to do to get better? How do I take my game to the level needed to win a championship?”
STILLER: But you did that.
TOWNS: We did that.
STILLER: What do you feel most proud of in terms of what you were able to accomplish with this team? Because in my mind as a fan, this was an extremely challenging year for this team, and for you personally.
TOWNS: I’m proud of making the All-Star Game, because it was such a weird point in our season. We’re two and nine and my stats weren’t exactly the same as last year, so people wondered if it was a drop-off. I was doing good for the average NBA player, but I wasn’t at my normal level. I was completely locked in on winning, which I told you all the time. As long as we win, I don’t care. But I was even prouder I kept mentally strong, which has always been my calling card, especially with everything I’ve been through, professionally and as a human.
STILLER: That was one of the great things you did this year, staying focused and locked in, because I’ve watched so many players come to New York and not be able to do that. And it’s really interesting getting to know you a little, seeing the reality of the ups and downs and having to ride through that. There was such a huge expectation on the team, and you were in this different role, and it felt like the whole team wasn’t gelling until the playoffs, really.
TOWNS: You’re right.
STILLER: There’s Christine [Stiller’s wife].
TOWNS: Hey!
CHRISTINE TAYLOR: I don’t want to interrupt the interview, but big hugs.
TOWNS: You just made the interview way better!
STILLER: That’s right. Much prettier.
TOWNS: This is your interview now.
TAYLOR: I’ll be back with some questions.
TOWNS: No, for real, come back with some questions.
STILLER: But anyway, it felt to me like everything wasn’t going perfectly, really up until the beginning of the playoffs.
TOWNS: Yeah, it wasn’t. It was always about getting that one percent better. We needed to be our best when it meant the most. We came out looking great in Game 1, but then Game 2 and 3, we didn’t look like ourselves. It showed we still had things we needed to do, even though we gave New York the greatest jump-start of all time by winning Game 1 of the first round against a team we were supposed to have a lot of trouble with. The [Atlanta] Hawks had a young team with a lot to prove.
STILLER: CJ McCollum all of a sudden having a moment.
TOWNS: CJ McCollum became Michael Jordan, bald-headed and all! So there was concern for us, because they had a lot of intangible pieces and a good coach. Losing Game 3, the panic button had to get pressed, which is what New York is used to. You’re used to being disappointed as fans. I trusted my experience, I trusted my IQ, and I trusted what I could feel on the court. And I communicated that as a 30-year-old man, not a 21-year-old kid who thinks he knows everything but may not actually know the answer. My experience told me this was exactly what we needed to do to be the best version of ourselves. And I made it known—shoutout to Mike [Brown, the Knicks head coach] for having a great conversation with me. A fierce conversation.
STILLER: I mean, that [the Knicks’ historic margin of victory in Game 4 of the first round] and Game 4 of the Finals I think were the two biggest—
TOWNS: Oh my god. Whatever you paid for that ticket, it was worth it.
STILLER: It was the most incredible game ever. Have you watched it?
TOWNS: I haven’t watched it and I really need to.
STILLER: The edits are so amazing.
TOWNS: I’ve seen the edit of OG [Anunoby] tipping the ball in.
Jacket Hermès. Sweater Thom Browne. T-shirt The Society Archive. Hat J.R. Malpere. Brooches The Jewelry Library.
STILLER: Okay, let’s talk about that.
TOWNS: Shit, I want to talk about it too, Ben. [Laughs] I told him, “Either I get your right hand cast in clay for my house, or I’m going to get a painting done and put it in my house.” You think I’m playing? It’s the greatest play ever.
STILLER: The greatest play ever. But what I also see when I watch it over and over again is, if it had not gone in, you were right up on that.
TOWNS: I was dunking it.
STILLER: If that hadn’t gone in, you were putting it in.
TOWNS: Oh my god, I was going to dunk it.
STILLER: It’s probably going to be the most famous play in Knicks history.
TOWNS: Do you think me hitting the ball on the inbound pass goes down as the most underrated play in Knicks history?
STILLER: One hundred percent. Because first of all, people didn’t realize it.
TOWNS: And I never even mentioned it.
STILLER: What an incredibly important sequence in Knicks history. How’s your dad doing?
TOWNS: He’s good. He asked about you yesterday.
STILLER: How does he feel about this son doing this?
TOWNS: Oh, you already know how he feels.
STILLER: Are you excited to get married?
TOWNS: I’m so excited.
STILLER: It’s the best. I’m 25, 26 years in.
TOWNS: I can’t wait to get to that. I’m super happy, man. But you know what’s crazy? Y’all still give such youthful energy to each other. It’s awesome.
STILLER: I remember talking to you earlier in the year, when it didn’t seem like the team was totally gelling, and you were like, “It’s going to be a two-ring summer.”
TOWNS: [Laughs] I was trying to tell you.
STILLER: I was like, “I’m glad he’s so confident,” but you really were confident. Do you ever have self-doubt?
TOWNS: I don’t let it enter my brain. Negativity is the root of failure.
STILLER: How do you do that?
TOWNS: Be mentally strong. I believe I’m always getting better. Every year I’ve shown I’m better than last year, and this year I was the most complete version of myself.I just kept my head down and got to work, and at the end of the day, we’re looking at championship newspapers being sold for $30.
STILLER: Insane.
TOWNS: You know I walked into a newsstand to get some and the guy was like, “We can only do five.” I was like, “Can I get more than five?” And he goes, “No more than five.” There was a big line and they all started cursing him out like, “What are you doing?” Then he had the nerve to ask me for a photo right after.
STILLER: Of course. That’s New York. What’s it like walking down the street in New York City right now?
TOWNS: I feel like you in the Tropic Thunder zoo, where it’s like, oh my god.
STILLER: I remember being in my first successful movie, but this is another level. I can’t imagine you can go five feet without somebody—
TOWNS: Yeah, but if I could ever be as cool as Tugg Speedman [Stiller’s character in Tropic Thunder], this would be fire. I’m having moments after winning it where I felt like I was Tugg Speedman. I was like, “Man, I may be the one.”
Coat Canada Goose. Jacket Loro Piana. Shirt Hermès. Jeans Thom Browne. Brooch The Jewelry Library. Watch Karl’s Own.
STILLER: Do you ever say, “I’m going to go take a walk because I want a little adulation and love from the world”?
TOWNS: I get excited to go back to the places I always go, where me and Jordyn have brunch and stuff. Now you go back with the championship in hand, and it’s more just to see the people who have served us all this food through the good and the bad, because now they’re getting to see the best. It’s nice to see them and say, “Appreciate you for sticking with me. Maybe I didn’t play my best game, but you didn’t treat me any different. You actually gave me more love, and I appreciate that.” It’s tough to be an athlete. The highs are high and the lows are low.
STILLER: I bet. And how do you take that into next year? Do you wipe the slate clean?
TOWNS: Nah, I just get to work. I’m actually excited to go chase a second one. Of course every champion is going to say, “Why can’t I do it again?” But this team actually can do it again.
STILLER: Let me ask you some fun questions.
TOWNS: Okay.
STILLER: I’ve heard Jalen [Brunson] listens to Justin Bieber before games. Who do you listen to?
TOWNS: Mac Miller. He was one of my best friends. It wasn’t even about making music. It was like, “Just come over, let’s have pizza and chill outside, talk and laugh and play games.” He was so integral to my youth, and we were so close in age, making it cool to grow up with someone whose art I really appreciated. And Drake.
STILLER: There’s something interesting about creativity, because there’s creativity in what you do. Do you think about how to be creative as a player?
TOWNS: Absolutely I do. Sorry, I just saw Timmy [Timothée Chalamet] onscreen repping France.
STILLER: Oh, is he?
TOWNS: And France is losing. He looks so disappointed. [Laughs] This is the first time he’s been disappointed since when?
STILLER: How me and him ended up near you guys after you won was literally—
TOWNS: He learned what I learned: Champagne hurts when it gets in your eyes. It hurts so bad.
STILLER: [Laughs] That was a crazy, surreal hour of my life.
TOWNS: I have obviously never won a championship before, but what was crazy was when they kept telling me, “Karl, you got to go back.” I’m on the court and they were trying to grab me. And I’m like, “What the hell? Coach wants me in the back?” They were trying to tell me to rush to the back because they had already started celebrating in the locker room, butI would not leave until I saw Jordyn coming with me.
STILLER: We got a great shot of you guys hugging on the film camera. It starts tight on you and then it’s this long, slow zoom out. It’s the most romantic thing. It’s like the end of Rocky.
TOWNS: I have to see that.
STILLER: It felt like that. Listen, I will see you soon. Congrats. You just did something amazing and I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
TOWNS: Man, great to talk to you. Anytime you need me, just call me.
STILLER: Alright, I’ll see you very soon.
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Groomer: Scott McMahan using Dior Beauty at Honey Artists.
Barber: Ezell Hunter.
Photo Assistant: Etienne Pelissier.
Styling Assistant: Sophia Ozan.
Production Director: Alexandra Weiss.
Photo Producer: Georgia Ford.
Post Production: Blythe Cross.
Location: Upstairs At Eric’s.