'I've seen a lot of coffins': NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns says he lost 7 family members to COVID-19
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"I've been through a lot, obviously starting out with my mom,” said Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns as he enters his sixth NBA season with a heavy heart. Towns’ mother, Jacqueline Towns, passed away in April due to COVID-19 related complications. On Friday, the 25-year-old revealed that six other family members have died due to COVID-19.
"I've been through a lot, obviously starting out with my mom,” said Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns as he enters his sixth NBA season with a heavy heart. Towns’ mother, Jacqueline Towns, passed away in April due to COVID-19 related complications. On Friday, the 25-year-old revealed that six other family members have died due to COVID-19.
"Last night I got a call that I lost my uncle," Towns said. "I feel like I've been hardened a little bit by life and humbled."
Towns said his main priority is to keep his family safe. His father, Karl-Anthony Towns Sr., also tested positive for the coronavirus but recovered.
"I've seen a lot of coffins in the last seven months, eight months," Towns said. "But I have a lot of people who have -- in my family and my mom's family -- who have gotten Covid. I'm the one looking for answers still, trying to find how to keep them healthy. It's just a lot of responsibility on me to keep my family well informed and to make all the moves necessary to keep them alive."
However, Towns said basketball won’t be anything like a therapy for him as he plays to put a smile on the faces of his family members while adding it’s going to be a hard season for him to play after seven deaths in his family due to the virus.
"I play this game more because I just loved watching my family members seeing me play a game I was very successful and good at. It always brought me a smile when I saw my mom at the baseline and in the stands and stuff and having a good time watching me play," Towns said. "So it's going to be hard to play. It's going to be difficult to say this is therapy. I don't think this will ever be therapy for me again. But it gives me a chance to relive good memories I had."
On March 15, Towns announced that he would donate $100,000 to the Mayo Clinic with hope that this fight with virus can be won quickly by increasing testing capabilities. He wrote on Instagram: "My hope is that we can fight this virus quicker and more efficiently by increasing the testing capabilities and availability and Mayo Clinic's overall Covid-19 response."
Minnesota Timberwolves will open the 2020-21 NBA season against the Detroit Pistons on December 23 at Target Center in Minneapolis.