Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns ready for membership in rare club

Depending on if those who decide such things are feeling generous in rounding numbers, Timberwolves forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns is in rarefied statistical air this season.

After Thursday's win over the Lakers, Towns is shooting 51.5% from the field, 42.1% from three-point range and 89.6% from the free-throw line.

Before Wednesday's game against Philadelphia, Towns' free-throw mark was better than 90%, which made him the only player in the league to average 50% from the floor, 40% from three-point range and 90% from the foul line (of those who had played over 800 minutes).

He went 9-for-11 from the line over the past two games, and those two misses were enough for the free-throw percentage to click down a little over 0.7% under 90%.

Squabble over the decimal points as you will, but the fact remains, Towns is on pace to have his most efficient scoring season, and that's from a player who has already had great shooting seasons in his past. Four times in his career, Towns has shot 50% from the floor and over 40% from three-point range. Towns was named an All-Star in three of those seasons and All-NBA in two of them.

The foul shooting always lagged just a bit behind (he's 83.8% for his career) to prevent him from reaching those three ideals of shooting efficiency he is close to now.

"It's always a goal," said Towns, who will sit out tonight in Sacramento because of right knee soreness. "It's a goal, obviously, personally to be able to achieve a mark like that for a whole year, but more of a goal for us is to try to be the best team we can be and in the NBA by the time the season is over."

Kevin Durant, Steve Nash and Larry Bird are the only three NBA players in the 50/40/90 club who have done it multiple times. There have only been 12 such seasons in league history.

The Wolves do not make it to 21-6 this season without Towns playing calculating and under-control basketball for much of this season after a slow start.

"His super power is definitely his efficiency," coach Chris Finch said. "He's always been a super efficient player — the way he can draw fouls, shoot threes, the way he can finish around the rim. It's all about patience for him and picking his spots, but also staying aggressive, and letting the game come to him and not forcing things."

Finch said with the way the Wolves deploy lineups now, it eases pressure on Towns feeling the burden of having to score or make a play on most possessions. After a calf injury robbed him of a lot of last season, he has had more time to click with Rudy Gobert and for the two of them to figure out how best to space the floor for Anthony Edwards. Towns and Edwards being elite dual offensive threats makes it hard for opposing defenses to focus on just one of them.

"He would feel like he was chasing the scoring opportunities. Now, with our lineup and our roster construction is a little different," Finch said. "... He felt like he had to do something every single time he caught the ball. He's just way more composed in his spacing and understanding like how to space, where to space around Rudy and around Ant. It's just gotten better and better."

A big part of Towns' efficiency has always been his ability to shoot threes. As Mike Conley said, he is the best shooter on the team.

"We want him to shoot as many as he can," Conley said. "He's our best shooter, but a lot of it is just him being spaced in the right spots. He's a big playing like a guard sometimes, and when you got big men trying to guard him in different situations like that, it allows him to be open and he doesn't have to work to get a shot off."

His three-point volume is down from recent years. His 4.7 attempts per game is the lowest it has been since the 2018-19 season. The Wolves always would like Towns to take more threes, but he also doesn't want to force the issue, and that philosophy has served Towns well so far this season.

"There's been games obviously already this year where I've taken a lot of threes, and games where I've taken almost none," Towns said. "Taking what the defense gives me."