Karl-Anthony Towns told Michelle Beadle, co-host of ESPN's Sportsnation, he watched "a lot of Kobe Bryant" with his best friend while they were growing up. Towns appeared on the program Tuesday to promote Call of Duty: Black Ops III, and participated in a game called "Right Town for Towns", where the seven-footer answered questions that would supposedly reveal which team with a top-four pick in the 2015 NBA Draft was the best fit for him.
The first question Towns was asked was which player out of Bryant, Allen Iverson, Patrick Ewing, and Kevin Garnett was his favorite. Towns was clearly attempting to be diplomatic during the entire segment (as any potential top pick who did not know which team was going to select him would be), but did allow that Bryant was the player he watched the most of:
Towns mentioning that he watched Bryant a lot as a kid is no surprise, given that he called Kobe a legend while dining with Julius Randle earlier this month. Could Bryant be passing Towns the torch as the Los Angeles Lakers next legend during the 2015-16 season, believed to be the 19-year veteran's last? The Lakers reportedly have Towns at the top of their draft board, but so do the Minnesota Timberwolves. What is real, what is a smokescreen, and which players are selected where will all be revealed on June 25th. Just a little over a week to go.