Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns Receives First Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

Karl-Anthony Towns battled COVID-19 in January and lost several family members to the virus.

Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday. 

Towns posted a picture of himself receiving the vaccine on social media with the caption: "Shot 1". 

Shot 1 ✅ pic.twitter.com/LQfB6SrH0k

— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) April 6, 2021

Several other Minnesota players—Ricky Rubio, Jake Layman and Jaden McDaniels—received vaccinations on Tuesday. Currently, the NBA does not mandate that players get the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Today, players and staff received their COVID-19 vaccines, distributed by @HyVee 👏 pic.twitter.com/5ci2PnCIZi

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 6, 2021

The two-time NBA All-Star missed nearly a month of basketball after contracting the coronavirus, saying he experienced several "scary nights" while he was sick. He tested positive on Jan. 15 and missed 13 games before returning on Feb. 11. 

In addition to his battle with COVID-19, Towns lost family members in 2020 due to COVID-19 complications, including his mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns. The 25-year-old posted an emotional video last March about his 58-year-old mother being placed on a ventilator and put into a medically induced coma because of the coronavirus. Cruz-Towns died April 13, 2020.