OKLAHOMA CITY — Karl-Anthony Towns' market bump in the All-Star voting did not go unnoticed by his teammate.
“Kat, do you see the difference between New York and Minnesota?” Josh Hart said Friday morning before the Knicks' 117-107 loss to the Thunder. “The difference is a million.”
Towns, who scored 17 points and grabbed 22 rebounds in the loss, received nearly 1.1 million votes in the first All-Star election, the third-highest in the East behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum.
Last year with the Timberwolves, Towns received just 139,642 votes in the first round of fan voting.
So, it's not quite a million, but close enough.
“Geographic differences,” Towns, a four-time All-Star but never a starter, answered Hart.
The other difference is that Towns' stats have skyrocketed this season with the Knicks, as he entered Friday on pace to average career-highs in rebounds (13.7), field goal percentage (54.8 percent), and 3-point percentage (44 percent). He achieved his highest points per game output (24.9) since before the pandemic.
But with Towns enjoying a big jump in the market, Jalen Brunson remained strangely underappreciated by fans with just 477,253 votes — good for seventh in the East and nearly half of LaMelo Ball's vote total.
Fan voting ends on January 20.
Brunson finished ninth in the East last year but was named a reserve. Assuming he doesn't finish second in the East backcourt fan vote, Brunson could still theoretically clinch a starting spot by winning the votes of the coaches and players (they represent 25 percent each, while the fan vote is 50 percent).
Either way, the Knicks, who are on a nine-game winning streak heading into Friday's big showdown against the Thunder, are expected to have two All-Stars.
at least.
They have three other potential candidates in the starting lineup, but Josh Hart, who leads the team in triple-doubles, has teased his candidacy.
“Can I get an All-Star? No,” he said. “I feel like it [coaches] I appreciate what I do but like I said, my game is not the joy and magic that generates this kind of accolades. And I'm okay with that. I am a servant of these men [Brunson, Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby]. I want to make sure they are good. “I want them to get accolades.”
Hart also has tropical plans for All-Star Weekend, which will be held this year in San Francisco.
“I want my toes to touch some sand by February,” he said, adding that the All-Star nod would be “amazing for me and the players.”
He has the vote of the cities.
“Josh Hart is an All-Star,” the center said. “I want to ruin your weekend.”
