Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns on Friday said that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
The diagnosis is especially hard for Towns, whose mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, died at 59 on April 13 due to complications from COVID-19. She had dealt with the virus for a month.
Towns said before the season that six other family members have also died due to complications with the virus.
“Prior to tonight’s game, I received yet another awful call that I tested positive for COVID,” Towns said in a statement shared on social media. “I will immediately isolate and follow every protocol. I pray every day that this nightmare of a virus will subside and I beg everyone to continue to take it seriously by taking all the necessary precautions.
“… It breaks my heart that my family, and particularly my father and sister continue to suffer from the anxiety that comes along with this diagnosis as we know all too well what the end result could be. To my niece and nephew … I promise you I will not end up in a box next to grandma and I will beat this.”
Minnesota announced earlier that their Friday night game against the Memphis Grizzlies had been postponed due to contact tracing in the Timberwolves’ organization.
Gersson Rosas, the team’s president of basketball operations, said during a news conference Friday that the organization has had two positive tests over the last two days and that one player is in the league’s contact tracing protocols.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Rosas said of Towns’ diagnosis. “For him to have to go through this, for Karl Sr., his sister and nieces, it’s heartbreaking.”
Towns, 25, missed six games this season with a wrist injury but returned to the court last week. He’s averaging 22 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists in four games.
