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Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns said there were nights after testing positive for COVID-19 when his “vital signs were not good” and his underlying conditions and genetics sometimes made his fight with the virus “frightening”.
Towns, who has missed 13 straight games, returned to the pitch on Wednesday for the first time since testing positive in mid-January. He admitted he wasn’t mentally ready to play his first game since Jan. 13, but he still finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds in a 119-112 loss to the LA Clippers.
“I am a high risk case,” Towns said of his experience with the coronavirus. “COVID didn’t treat me well at all. Lots of scary nights. One of the things I said to my sister when I had COVID was that, ‘Hey, I got it, and I didn’t. I don’t have a good version of it. I have a lot of COVID in me, but I’m going to fight and beat it. ‘”
Towns added, “During all the long nights where I wasn’t feeling well at all and my vital signs were not good and decisions had to be made about my health, I kept [my family and my niece and nephew] in mind. They pushed me to keep doing things. When COVID continued to play with my body, mind, and spirit, I thought of them and my mom. “
In addition to dealing with the virus, Towns has been grieving since his mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, and six other family members died of complications from COVID-19. Towns previously shared in an emotional video that his mother was on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma. Cruz-Towns died on April 13 at the age of 58.
Discussing what made his battle with COVID-19 worse, Towns said he has certain underlying conditions, although he did not go into details, and also said that between his parents, he was more “genetically connected” to his mother.
“You hear these stories where people are COVID,” Towns said. “And they’re like, oh for four days, five days, I wasn’t feeling right and then I magically turned the corner one day and I was feeling fine. It didn’t happen to me.”
He added, “Everyone’s case with COVID is totally different, every human and their underlying conditions are totally different. And my underlying conditions haven’t worked in my favor for COVID at all, but on their own one of the scariest parts for all of us in this organization and my immediate family is how genetically connected I am to my mother. … Nothing was working in my favor. I knew it would be a tough trip. “
After his mother and other loved ones died from COVID-19, Towns said he also felt tremendous guilt about his ability to overcome his illness.
“I felt very guilty about the treatment I received,” he said. “And I think it should be more widely available to Americans, to anyone in the world. I felt very guilty that I even had something that could help me recover, stay healthy, stay alive. There is such mental tension all the time, a feeling of guilt over the resources I have, and I wish I could share those resources with as many people as possible. “
Towns, 25, also heard from the chorus of NBA stars who have expressed their views in disagreement with the league’s decision to host an all-star game this season amid the pandemic. He agreed with stars like Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, who firmly believes there shouldn’t be a game this year.
“Personally, I don’t think there should be an All-Star Game, but what do I know?” Impassive cities. “M —, obviously I haven’t dealt with COVID, probably a guy who has some insight into it. What do I need to know about COVID, right?”
Towns said he realized he was not mentally ready to return after joining the Timberwolves on a road trip. He added that he was not mentally ready to play against the Clippers on Wednesday and had not had any contact on the pitch for almost a month. But he wanted to be there for his teammates and coaches, to whom he attributed the support and space during his difficult times.
Minnesota head coach Ryan Saunders said Towns’ willingness to speak openly about his grief and experiences had a bigger impact than anything he had done on the pitch.
“It takes a lot of courage in so many different ways,” Saunders said. “A lot of people experience grief and loss. You hear it, but until you experience it, you don’t understand that grief is linear. Everyone goes through their ups and downs. Karl made a amazing job, I think, in dealing with any kind of weak moments that he can have so that he can be a light to others. “
Cities have admitted that there have been many dark moments over the past few weeks as he was isolated in quarantine. He said he just wanted to see the coronavirus eradicated.
“I’ve seen so many s – last year, I guess you would say. It’s just what it is,” Towns said. “I can’t understand all the things that have happened in the world, but only for myself. … Let’s find a solution and make a plan to overcome this.”
Towns added, “COVID is a real thing. It will never go away. It hasn’t diminished at all. It just got smarter.”
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