Four years ago, Kevin Durant tossed a high school hopeful a bone. MSG Varsity, an online high school sports programming service in the NY/NJ/Connecticut area, brought a freshman forward from St. Joseph High School to a Thunder-76ers game in Philadelphia. Durant accepted an interview from the intrepid reporter.
Karl-Anthony Towns: Current NBA rookie sensation, Former NBA insider
Posted by NBA on TNT on Thursday, November 12, 2015
The Thunder and 76ers play Friday in Oklahoma City, but Karl-Anthony Towns will not be there. The first overall pick in last summer's draft will be joining the Timberwolves for a game against Indiana.
Overall, it's a pretty bizarre video. Towns is a giddy kid in an Izod jacket happy to meet his NBA crush. He can barely speak. At the time, Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and the Thunder were en route to an NBA Finals appearance. KD looks somewhat annoyed having to deal with this awkward teenager, but he takes time to give a decent answer about his brother pushing him to be a better player.
"I wish him continued success on and off the court and will be cheering for him every step of the way," Towns says in closing his piece.
Towns' career (he was already a highly-touted NCAA prospect at the time of his interview) took off after talking to Durant. He joined the Dominican Republic National Team, reclassified from the 2015 to 2014 class and committed to Kentucky. Towns was the 2014 Gatorade Player of the Year. In one year at Kentucky, he was second team All-American, first team All-SEC and SEC Freshman of the Year.
Now, he's averaging 16.1 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in his first eight NBA games. Durant is probably thinking he should have been a little more engaging four years ago.
TNT aired the clip during the Timberwolves-Warriors game Thursday night, citing msgvarsity.com.
-- Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.
