8 family members lost to COVID
Karl-Anthony Towns lost eight family members during COVID-19, including his mother, and was hospitalized himself.
Snapshot · On Purpose with Jay Shetty
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: How I Survived the Hardest Year of My Life
Explore episode
Jul 20, 2026
Where this was said
Losing Family During COVID
At 22:03 · chapter starts 20:09
Shetty asks whether Towns ever doubted himself on the way to the NBA. The answer is a clear no — but for a reason that has nothing to do with arrogance. Towns says his confidence was always grounded in the support and love of his family. They may not have had millions, but they had 'a ton of love, and that's more currency than anything.' He believed success would come if he simply refused to be outworked, having watched his parents grind 9-to-5s to put food on the table. The segment broadens into a philosophical reflection on how differently people are wired — and why assuming someone who disagrees is 'wrong' is itself the mistake. Towns says some of his best conversations are with people who see the world completely differently, and that sitting quietly and genuinely listening dissolves what most people mistake for irreconcilable disagreement.
God's timing vs. personal timing
Towns believed he'd win a championship in his first 5 years in Minnesota; instead, the title came on God's timing years later with the Knicks.
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