Challenge Issued to Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns by Former NBA Champion

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Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks

Karl-Anthony Towns is entering his second season with the New York Knicks. He’s expected to shoulder a major role within Mike Brown’s offensive and defensive system.

Towns enjoyed a strong debut year with New York. In 72 games, he averaged 24.4 points, 12.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists, shooting 52.6% from the field and 42% from deep. However, he came in for some criticism due to his conditioning and struggles on the defensive end.

It’s for those reasons that former NBA champion Kendrick Perkins believes Towns will be under significant pressure to contend for a championship in the upcoming season. Perkins’ comments came via a recent episode of ESPN’s NBA Today.

“When you talk about players, which players are under the most pressure to deliver, that’s Karl-Anthony Towns,” Perkins said, “Like it’s time for him to deliver. It’s been a lot of criticism when it comes down to Luka Doncic and what he did defensively, and being in shape. Well, KAT falls in that category.”

Perkins continued.

“KAT is a walking bucket. He’s one of one. Arguably the best shooting big we’ve ever seen. He’s really, really skilled, but that’s not what he needs to correct. He needs to correct his ability to get up and down the floor, be able to slide those puppies, because he was getting cooked in the big role.”

Towns has already proven himself to be an elite offensive weapon. However, his defensive struggles have certainly led to some significant discussion regarding his viability in a single-big lineup.

Towns Works Better Next to a Rim Protector

Mitchell Robinson’s injury issues limited Tom Thibodeau’s ability to experiment with a double-big lineup consisting of both Towns and Robinson. However, there were some fleeting moments when we got to see what the Knicks could look like with Towns operating as a power forward.

According to Cleaning The Glass, Towns spent 140 non-garbage time possessions in the four last seasons. During those possessions, the Knicks outscored opponents by +19 points per 100 possessions.

While the sample size is incredibly small, there’s clearly some potential upside in pairing Towns with a more defensively-minded big man such as Robinson. That would allow New York’s star offensive big man to focus on what he does well, while also providing some reliable help-defense due to his size and length.

Brown may have some other ideas in mind, but we shouldn’t be surprised if he experiments with a double-big rotation during the opening weeks and months of the new season.

Knicks Add High-Level Offensive Coach

According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the Knicks have continued to round out Brown’s coaching staff with the addition of T.J. Saint.

“Saint, head coach of the Pelicans G League team, will aid [the Knicks] on the offensive end,” Begley reported. “He’s viewed in NBA circles as a bright offensive mind; Squadron had the G League’s top offense in the 2023-24 regular season. In addition to coaching with the Pelicans, Saint has coached at the University of Georgia, with the Detroit Pistons, at Butler University and Belmont University.”

Saint’s addition could help Towns take his offensive impact to another level, especially after a year of building a partnership with Jalen Brunson. Therefore, between Saint’s addition and potentially pairing Towns with a rim-protecting big man, Towns could be due for a highly impactful season. And if that’s the case, the Knicks’ chances of making it to the NBA finals will receive a significant boost.

Adam Taylor is a basketball reporter covering the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns for Heavy. He has also written for CelticsBlog, USA Today, Yardbarker and FanSided. Adam has a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Open University. More about Adam Taylor

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Oasis, Metallica, and Bad Bunny Named Tours of the Years by Pollstar

Oasis, Metallica, Bad Bunny, and Kendrick Lamar and SZA were recognized as among the year’s best tours at the 2026 Pollstar Awards during a ceremony held in Hollywood this week.

Oasis’ 2025 reunion claimed the top prize, winning Major Tour of the Year. Metallica’s “M72 World Tour” took home top rock tour, Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour” won best Latin tour, Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s joint Grand National Tour” was awarded Hip-Hop Tour of the Year, and The Weeknd’s “After Hours Til Dawn Stadium Tour” claimed the top spot for R&B Tour of the Year.

Get Metallica at Sphere Tickets Here

This year’s other winners included The Eagles at Sphere (Residency of the Year); Austin City Limits (Music Music Festival of the Year, over 30k+ Attendance); Glastonbury (International Music Festival); and Sphere (US Arena of the Year). Check out all of the notable winners below.

Paul Heyman Confirms Original WrestleMania 42 Main Event Plans

Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton will main event WrestleMania tonight, and then CM Punk and Roman Reigns will be in the headline slot on Sunday. Those were not the matches WWE initially planned to have close the show each night, something fans suspected, which Paul Heyman has now confirmed.

WWE’s Original WrestleMania Main Event Plans

bron breakker being held back as he yells into a camera.

Heyman had his son, Jacob, interview him during the build to WrestleMania weekend. Jacob asked his Hall of Fame dad if he’s disappointed not to be involved in the main event scene on the biggest show of the year, either tonight or tomorrow. This will be the first time Heyman doesn’t have a client in either night’s WrestleMania main event since WrestleMania 35, before the PLE became a two-night affair.

ripley punk and morgan on a split wrestlemania 42 image.

WWE WrestleMania 42: Match Card, Start Time, And How To Watch

Everything you need to know about WrestleMania 42.

That impressive streak would have remained intact had WWE’s original WrestleMania main event plans unfolded as intended. “I don’t think it’s a big secret that everything was driving this year to be Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns, and then that fell apart. And then it was going to be Bron Breakker vs. CM Punk, and that fell apart,” Heyman confirmed to his son. “So I was in line to be a part of the main event this year, and fate intervened not once but even twice.”

Rollins Is Ready For WrestleMania After All

seth rollins laughing on the wwe entrance ramp.

It’s worth noting that even though it might read that way, this isn’t Heyman confirming the two original main events for each night, necessarily. The Punk vs. Breakker plans came about when Rollins suffered an injury, an injury that led to his main event against Reigns being scrapped. It’s believed Punk vs. Cody Rhodes would have been the other main event had plans for Reigns vs. Rollins panned out.

Frustrating for Rollins, knowing he was supposed to be in the main event, as it turns out, he has recovered from his injury in time to be part of the show. Rollins will wrestle Gunther in a match tonight. It’s a bout that needed less build than a showdown for the championship with Reigns would have been, hence WWE not pivoting back to that original plan once it became clear Rollins would be ready in time.

The plans for Punk vs. Reigns and Rhodes vs. Orton would have also been well underway by the time Rollins was given the okay to compete this weekend, too. Minus the outside involvement from celebrities nobody asked for, I think fans are okay with where we’ve wound up. We’ll know whether the matches live up to the hype soon enough as WrestleMania Saturday is only a few hours away.

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Jarrett Allen provides update on injured knee: ‘It’s better’

The Cleveland Cavaliers finally discovered midway through this season that they’re better when Jarrett Allen is heavily featured than they are when he’s not. That process was halted at the beginning of March when he injured his knee during the team’s win over the Detroit Pistons. Allen returned to the lineup the last week of March, but admitted that he was playing through pain. Everyone is pushing through something in the playoffs, but Allen is in a better place now than he was a few weeks back.

“It’s better,” Allen said when he was asked about his knee after Thursday’s practice. “I’ve had some time off for it to calm down and try to get back to homeostasis, back to the level where it should be.”

Even though Allen is feeling better, he wouldn’t go as far as saying he felt perfect when asked if he’d be limited by his knee in any way.

“I’d be lying if I said I would expect it to be 100%,” Allen said. “No, I don’t think anybody would be 100% going into the playoffs. That’s just how it is. That’s my very political answer. … But yeah, it’s definitely something I’m going to have to deal with and manage, get treatment before, take the medicine that I’m supposed to to try to be at my best.”

We don’t know the exact severity of the injury and how much Allen is possibly downplaying it now. What we do know is that Allen has had a rough go of it this season from a health perspective. He played the fewest regular-season games in his career due to various injuries to his hands and knees throughout the season. Allen has done his part to persevere through them as much as he can, and may need to do so again in the postseason.

Allen averaged 15.4 points and 8.5 rebounds on 63.8% shooting in 56 games this season.

The Cavs open up their first-round series against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday afternoon.

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