The New York Knicks wanted to raise their ceiling as a championship contender, so they acquired Karl-Anthony Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves right before the start of training camp.
The addition of Towns helped improve New York's record by just one game, but the improvement from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics placed the Knicks 10 games back of the top tier of teams in the Eastern Conference.
ESPN writer Kevin Pelton named Towns as one of the players with "plenty at stake" in the playoffs this season.
"Adding Towns on the eve of training camp has supercharged the Knicks' offense, which ranked among the top five in the NBA. But New York's inability to beat the league's best teams (including an 0-10 record against Boston, Cleveland and Oklahoma City) can be traced to defensive slippage," Pelton writes.
"After helping the Minnesota Timberwolves to last year's conference finals as a power forward, Towns must show he can anchor a capable playoff defense at center."
Towns was rewarded by the Wolves after years of turmoil and finally getting the team to the Western Conference Finals with a trip out of town, and there should be a lot for him to prove to himself and the rest of the league.
The playoffs are where heroes are made, and Towns has a chance to be just that for the Knicks. The team brought him to town for this month in particular, and if he is able to be the player that the Knicks envisioned him to be, New York could be looking at making a deeper playoff run.
Towns' playoff career with the Knicks will begin with a first-round series against the Detroit Pistons, who will match up Jalen Duren to compete next to him.
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