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Head coach of Mike Brown of the New York Knicks speaks to media during his introductory press conference.
New York Knicks All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns revealed details of his two-hour meeting with new head coach Mike Brown.
Towns noted that after the meeting, both men were convinced that the Knicks had the requisite pieces to capture the 2026 NBA championship.
“This was the first time we actually met, got a chance to speak, talk about the team, and get to know each other,” Towns told the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast.
“We have a chance to win a championship and that’s only going to happen if everyone’s connected to each other, and our goals,” Towns continued.
Towns said the purpose of the meeting was to get to know Brown, understand his offensive principles, and how he plans to use him as a floor-spacing big man.
“The way he wants to play basketball, wants to coach, wants to operate practices and everything,” Towns said of trying to understand his new head coach.
‘Everyone Has to be Fully Invested’
During the conversation, Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony asked Towns if he and Brown spoke of the team’s loss to the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 NBA playoffs, and whether they could right the wrongs in the new season.
“We did a lot last year when people said we didn’t have a bench,” Towns stressed. “We still made it to the [Eastern Conference Finals]. Our locker room is very good.”
Towns, who was a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves for the first nine seasons of his career, spoke in length about the importance of off-court chemistry.
” [When] you have locker rooms that are that connected, you can’t be bothered by any of the outside noise and stuff, that’s when you have a championship team,” he said.
“Because at the end of the day, people will talk. [But] as long as everyone in that locker room believes in each other and this goal we have, ain’t none of that sh*t matters on the outside.”
Knicks Favorites to Reach NBA Finals
The Knicks are the co-betting favorites, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers, to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2026 NBA Finals. New York stands to benefit from a slew of injuries that are expected to weaken the Boston Celtics (Jayson Tatum) and Indiana Pacers (Tyrese Haliburton), and also a Milwaukee Bucks team without Damian Lillard.
As Towns alluded to, the Knicks had the worst bench in the league in the 2024-25 season, which forced ex-head coach Tom Thibodeau to increase the starters’ workload. In the regular season, Knicks averaged the league-worst 21.7 points off the bench, more than half the points scored by the league-leading San Antonio Spurs (44.1) and nearly half of their conference rivals, the Detroit Pistons (40.2) Indiana Pacers (39.8).
It was a similar story in the playoffs, as the Knicks averaged only 15.8 points off the bench, which ranked 15th among the 16 teams.
Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan
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