Karl-Anthony Towns is one of the best players in the league, but he’s carried a stigma that he’s an empty stats guy. This will be the season the former All-Star center changes that narrative and pushes the Minnesota Timberwolves into playoff contention.

Since being drafted with the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Towns has proven to be a top player in the NBA. He’s a two-time All-Star, former Rookie of The Year, and has been named to an All-NBA team. Unfortunately, these last two seasons have been difficult for him, and he’s impressively overcome these hurdles.

But the narrative has started to shift, and the former Wildcat isn’t viewed as a top-three center anymore. This makes the 2021-22 season all the more crucial for him to take that next step.

There’s no doubt that Towns can shift the narrative and help the Timberwolves make the playoffs for the second time since the 2003-04 season. If that happens, it should push him back into the All-NBA conversation.

Towns had a great offensive season last year, despite playing in 50 games. In that span, he averaged 24.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.1 blocks and 0.8 steals per game. All while shooting 48.6 percent from the field, 38.7 from 3 and 85.9 from the free-throw line.

Towns’ has been close to landing himself in the elite 50/40/90 club. There’ve only been nine players to accomplish this feat, and you wonder if he becomes the 10th.

He’s one of the best big-man shooters in the history of the NBA, but an underrated facet of his game is his ability to get others involved. Towns ranked fifth amongst centers in assists behind Nikola Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, Julius Randle and Bam Adebayo.

Because he garners so much attention on offense, defenses will lose track of the other Wolves’ players on the floor. Each season, Towns has vastly improved in situations in which he’s double-teamed.

This is just another example of his vision and ability to facilitate out of the double-team.

We know how great he is offensively, but defense is still an area he struggles with. People who followed the Timberwolves closely saw Towns improve defensively last season. It was arguably his best year on that end of the floor.

Minnesota’s defense was awfully bad last season (28th) and it was a big proponent for Town’s defensive rating of 114.7. He also showcased the ability to guard players on the perimeter, which isn’t common for someone that size.

Chris Finch has shown he can be a great coach for the organization, and it’ll be interesting to see how he utilizes Towns on both ends of the floor after a full offseason. If things go right, the former No. 1 overall pick should lead Minnesota to its second playoff appearance since 2003-04.