Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns revealed on Saturday that he has lost seven family members, including his mother, to the COVID-19 virus.
Towns’ mother passed away on April 13 after battling against the virus for a month and he told reporters that he ‘hasn’t been in a good place’ since she was hospitalized.
“I’m the one looking for answers to try to keep my family well informed and make all the moves necessary to keep them alive,” the former No.1 NBA draft pick said.
He doesn’t think that playing basketball is going to be a therapy for him as having his mother and other family members watch him play brought him joy and happiness. That will no longer be there for him now.
The Timberwolves released a statement announcing Cruz-Towns’ death and also paid respect to her in the same.
Jackie was many things to many people—a wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend,” the club statement said.
“The matriarch of the Towns family, she was an incredible source of strength; a fiery caring, and extremely loving person, who touched everyone she met.
“Her passion was palpable and her energy will never be replaced.”
Towns also spoke pretty openly about how difficult things have been in the eight months since his mother passed away, at the age of 59.
“I think for me, I think if I was to say how am I coping and how am I healing from this, I’m trying to heal myself through others,” he said last month.
Towns was also using his platform to help during the pandemic, even before his mother’s death. He also announced a $100,000 donation on March 15 to support the roll-out of Mayo Clinic’s test to detect COVID-19.
He has been playing for the Timberwolves since the 2015-16 season and averages 22.7 points per game in a total of 358 career games for the club. Towns recorded a field goal percentage of 0.534 and a 3-point field goal percentage of 0.396 as well. He made 2.8 assists per game on average as well but he averaged a career high APG of 4.4 in the 2019-20 season.
