NEW YORK -- Karl-Anthony Towns has been traded from Minnesota, lost the conference finals and won the NBA title for his childhood team -- and still feels he is in the period of grief that began six years ago.
Just 10 days before the New York Knicks' banner-raising celebration, the All-Star big man marked World Mental Health Day by sharing his ongoing emotional journey following the death of his mother to complications from COVID-19.
Entering the first game of this year's NBA Finals, he said he felt "this very big calm" wash over him. He was taken back to amateur youth games with crowds so small he could spot his mom from anywhere.
"I felt like it was kind of just me, her and the game of basketball," he told the audience gathered Saturday by the nonprofit Project Healthy Minds. "I was able to be like an artist out there. I was able to have my paint brush and have a canvas with the court. And I was able to just paint a beautiful picture for her about the love I have for the game. The love I have to show the world because of her."
There was a time when he had lost that love for the game. Towns, whose bright smile became a constant image of the Knicks' championship run, said basketball "felt hollow" after his mother's death. "I didn't know if I wanted to do it anymore," he said.
But Towns found some solace in Arnie Kander, a well-known strength and wellness coach.
"Just to be heard, to be able to talk to someone you can trust, be able to really unload all that pain onto it and allow them to understand your feelings and articulate your feelings the right way, it makes life much lighter," he said. "And I felt myself getting lighter every time we kept talking."
Athletes embrace mental health Project Healthy Minds hopes Towns' example will inspire others to seek mental health care. The tech nonprofit runs a free online marketplace for finding therapy, psychiatry, support groups and other services. Its annual World Mental Health Day festival in New York offers an all-day schedule of yoga, art therapy and speakers.
Speaking Saturday with Towns was Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman, the longtime manager for NBA superstar Kevin Durant and a new member of Project Healthy Minds' board.
Kleiman told The Associated Press that these sorts of conversations are growing more prevalent among athletes. DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love kick-started the conversation eight years ago when DeRozan tweeted about depression and Love then published a first-person essay about anxiety. Kleiman recalled trading stories about anxiety attacks with Love for several hours one night shortly afterward.