Chris Finch 'forever grateful' for KAT's sacrifice with Timberwolves

Towns and the Knicks visit the Timberwolves Thursday for a national TV game.

Mar 27, 2022; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch talks with center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) during the second half against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images / Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

Former Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns is playing his first game at the Target Center on Thursday since Minnesota traded him to the New York Knicks before the season.

Towns is likely going to be greeted by thankful Timberwolves fans, and he'll get a similarly grateful reception from Minnesota head coach Chris Finch, who spoke glowingly of Towns' team-first mentality, namely is unselfish move to power forward after Rudy Gobert arrived in Minnesota in 2022.

"Massive. Just accommodating Rudy from the general sense, then having to change his game along the way," Finch said of Towns on Tuesday. "He never fought it. There were things that we had to learn that were obviously hijacked by 50-game absences at the end of that first year together."

Towns had extended injury absences with the Wolves in 2022-23 and 2023-24, but none more notable than his long break last season due to a meniscus injury. When he returned for the playoffs, it looked like everything began to click for Minnesota.

"Coming back for playoffs, for the Denver series, at that point, I thought we were able to put our finger on some stuff that finally worked," Finch recalled. "A lot of it had to do with KAT making the sacrifices around it to actually make it work. (I am) forever grateful for that. Not many players of his caliber are going to do it with the willingness that he did and the effectiveness that he did it."

Both the Knicks and Wolves have seen their fair share of growing pains since the blockbuster trade, but things have begun to turn around for both teams.

Towns is averaging 24.8 points, a league-leading 13.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists. His shooting splits including 52.6% overall and 43.9% from 3-point range. He's helped the Knicks go 11-4 in the last 15 games to move into third place in the Eastern Conference.

Minnesota has returned to its dominant, employing a ferocious defense to win six of the last seven games and rise to a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference.

Thursday's Knicks-Wolves game will tip off at 8:30 p.m. CT and it will be televised nationally on TNT.