Karl-Anthony Towns admits 'COVID did not treat me well' after first game back

Karl-Anthony Towns returned to action last night, playing in Minnesota's loss to the Clippers after missing nearly a month due to COVID-19. Towns said that the recovery was a difficult experience for him, as he had several "scary" nights that left him feeling shaken both physically and mentally.

"I am a high-risk case," Towns said. "COVID did not treat me well whatsoever. A lot of scary nights. One of the things that I told my sister when I got COVID was that, 'Hey, I got it, and I don't got a good version of it. I got a lot of COVID in me, but I am going to fight and beat it.'"

Even before his own fight with COVID-19, Towns was extremely familiar with the damage that the coronavirus can do. Last year, he lost several family members, including his mom, to COVID-19 and has been open about how painful it was watching so many people he loved die. Towns admitted he even felt "guilty" due to the high-quality treatment he received because he was an NBA player, knowing that others are not as lucky and could lose their lives.

"I felt very guilty about the treatment I got," he said. "And I feel that should be more widely available to Americans, to anyone in the world."

While Towns played well in his first game back, scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, he says he was not mentally ready to return to the court. He also became the latest NBA player to voice his skepticism about the league holding the All-Star Game despite the ongoing pandemic.