New York Knicks All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns’ name is now next to three all-time great centers after what he’s accomplished through his first 35 games of the season.
Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns has made history this year
Athlon Sports’ Lance Roberson relayed a statistical achievement that was recently unearthed, which shed light on just how dominant Towns has been as a scorer and rebounder in 2024-25:
“According to Basketball Reference (thanks to Knicks beat writer Tommy Beer’s research), Towns is only the fourth player in the last 50 years to average 25-plus points and 14-plus rebounds over the first 35 games in a season,” Roberson wrote. “[Shaquille] O’Neal is the last player to reach the same milestone, with Houston Rockets legend Moses Malone doing it for two consecutive seasons and Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar doing it for two straight campaigns.”
Abdul-Jabbar & O’Neal’s feats came in MVP years
The company that Towns is in is as rave-worthy as can be. A strong case can be made for Abdul-Jabbar as the greatest center ever. The 19-time All-Star hit the aforementioned marker in the 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons. Abdul-Jabbar won back-to-back MVP awards for those campaigns. He boasted 27.7 points and a league-leading 16.9 rebounds per game in the former and 26.2 PPG and 13.3 RPG in the latter.
As for Malone, he owned the late 1970s and early 80s as the preeminent player in the Association. Beer revealed that the three-time MVP hit those groundbreaking averages in the 1979-80 and 1980-81 campaigns. The 12-time All-Star put up 25.8 PPG and 14.5 RPG in the first historic outing and 27.8 PPG and an NBA-best 14.8 RPG in the ultimate one.
Regarding O’Neal, the LSU product is widely regarded alongside fellow Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain as the most dominant force in league history. He rounds out the prestigious club having hit the statistical criteria on his 1999-2000 MVP tear through the league. That season, O’Neal led the NBA in scoring with 29.7 PPG and corralled 13.6 boards per night.
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Towns has taken the next step in historic 35-game stretch
Towns is legitimately in the running to win his first NBA MVP award. He has not been looked at in such a light throughout his career despite being a former two-time All-NBA performer. The growth he’s shown in a Knicks uniform has been special, to say the least.
New York looks to enjoy more of his torrid scoring and rebounding, as seen by his 25.3 PPG and his league-leading 14.0 RPG. Should those figures, along with his riveting playmaking and impact on winning persist, he could add the honor to his trophy case. For now, he can enjoy having done something that only the creme of the crop has at his position.
