NBA FINALS: KNICKS VS. SPURS

June 13, 2026

Karl-Anthony Towns

New York Knicks

Game 5: Postgame

New York Knicks 94, San Antonio Spurs 90

Q. KAT, congratulations.

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: Thank you.

Q. First of all, for the Latino population, your people in the Dominican Republic right now, it's a fiesta. It's a party right now. Your message to your fan base in the DR, and are you bringing the trophy there?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: Hell, yeah, I'm taking it everywhere. Everywhere. I'm going to bring it to Santo Domingo, Santiago, Casa de Campo in La Romana. We're going to have a little world tour with it.

But it's great that Dominicans all around the world get to celebrate this moment. Huge shoutout to Al Horford, who really inspired me to do this.

I got my two rookies up here [Ariel Hukporti and Mohamed Diawara], you know what I'm trying to say. It's awesome, that's what it's all about. They get this experience. It's a lifetime work for me, 11 years. They got to see this in two years.

MOHAMED DIAWARA: One year.

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: That's crazy, rookie year. I remember I came in No. 1 pick, I thought I had a chance. I was lying to myself; I needed 11 years to do it.

God is good. Like I said, I thought in my first, second year I would get one after having a successful high school, college career. You never know how truly hard it is to get to the NBA Finals.

But for them, God's timing was different for all of us. For [Diawara] it was one year, for [Hukporti] it was two years, and for me 11 years. A lot of ups and downs in my career to get to this point. I'm glad I'm able to provide Dominicans around the world this moment, New York Knicks fans around the world this moment, these rookies, my young fellow over here and Ariel, I'm just super happy and excited that this is a worldwide celebration for everybody.

Q. Four games in a row, you guys have to fight back from behind, all different kinds of ways and today it's Jalen lifting you guys offensively. What does it mean to see this team every game find a way?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: It speaks volumes about this team, how versatile and the depth of our team. It's crazy, for all of us, me personally, you would have thought for us winning, it would have to be my offense that goes to another level, but it was the defense that got it done today for me.

Something that's always been talked about me and my defense, and I'm glad I got to show the world on the biggest stage that I could get it done. Against a great player, too. He's going to be something special for a lot of years to come. Once-in-a-generation athlete.

Shoutout to the Spurs, too. They're the real deal.

Shoutout to Jersey's own, Dylan Harper; he's the real deal.

It just a great moment for all of us and the Knicks organization and the family.

You know, the young fellas get to enjoy this, man, and that's what it's all about. Especially being a vet, you want to give your young fellas this moment. You want to show them what it takes to be great and they can take the torch and I could watch them with my kids be great.

[OG Anunoby walks onto the podium.] Mr. Aura. Like I said earlier, you can't spell "God" without "OG." Come on, now. Where you going? Come on, bring the sketches. Come on, bring the sketchies.

You're a rookie. You're supposed to stand up. What's going on here?

Q. You mentioned what this means for your future generations. I'm just wondering what it's like and how big of a role Karl Senior has played in your life to this point?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: He's been everything to me. He taught me the game of basketball. He put a lot of hours in. I remember him working up at Piscataway Vo Tech. Shoutout to Ludovico, the athletic director when I was coming up, because I always say, sometimes you have to have a lot of things go right to be at this high level, even to make it to college. Always one thing got to go your way. I was very fortunate that Ludovico was the AD at the Piscataway Vo Tech. That allowed me to go to the gym and have a gym to work out at and work on my game all the time at any time.

I had a father who was willing to put those long hours in as a high school coach to give me the opportunity to have a gym. I think for a lot of players who are listening to this, one of the hardest things to do was find a gym. Let alone, I was blessed to have a little money and two loving parents and a hardwood floor. Not an outdoor court or concrete floor, but a hardwood floor to work on my game to get to this point.

I had a father, too, who believed in myself and believed in my vision. When everybody told me to be more of a back-to-the-basket player, don't ever shoot threes, don't ever work on that part of my game and don't have no guard skills, when I told my dad what my vision was for me as a player, he believed in me and he was willing to put a lot of people's advice who were high up in training to the side.

I'll never forget the day I took a walk with my dad around the block in Piscataway. I was just telling him, I know there's some amazing people who want to train me and say they are going to take my game to another level, but me and him are the ones that got to this level and me and him are the ones that could get me to the next level and beyond.

My dad, he took that challenge. He took that challenge and he trusted me, his son, who was young, maybe didn't know as much as obviously as him. But he could see the passion that I had for this game and for what I thought the vision of my game could be and how I could change the game.

I mean, it's all shoutout to him and to my mom, too, because she had a lot of hours where they didn't see me and trusted in me, and my pops was really putting it in at work and was trusting that we were going to make something special out of this. I know she's looking down, really proud, knowing all those nights coming home at 10:30 at night from the gym was worth it.

Q. Jalen tries to take a shot, lands on Victor's foot and looks like he's hurt. Like he always does, comes back into the game. Pain tolerance from him, what have you seen of his ability to get back up time and time again?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: That's who Cap is. Cap always find a way to get back on the court and produce. That's a testament to who he is, and just his story, never giving up, always have been the underdog, always been looked down upon. It always takes one person to believe in you. This organization believed in him, and we believed in him. We were going to do whatever it takes to get him to the next level.

I think I speak for me and OG, it's been an honor to be brought to this team and amplify him. Leon [Rose], Gerss [Gersson Rosas] and everybody for believing in us and seeing what we can be and seeing also what we could do when other people said we couldn't do that.

And for two of the three trades -- which I say three-for-three, they went -- two of the three trades up here [on the podium] right now that people said, what the hell are they doing? Obviously they knew better than them. So shoutout to them.

Q. Following up on that, you talked about Jalen, you're not going to be alone, I'm going to be with you step for step the entire way, and tonight for him to hit the gas, 45 points in a close-out game on the road, what did you see in front of him tonight and what do you see from him?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: I see a man that's grown up and took the challenge of being in the biggest market in the world, being with a team that hasn't made it the to the NBA Finals in 27 years and hasn't won in 54 years, and knowing that he could do it.

Shoutout to everybody who told him he couldn't do it, because it gave him fuel for the fire. For him to welcome both of us here into this organization and trust that we were here for him, it means a lot. It means a lot to have a person like that who has been handed the keys to the city and was willing to have the door open for both of us to join.

Q. You've sat on this stage before in a celebration behind you, but it wasn't for you.

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: Yeah.

Q. How much did those experiences help you, being in Minnesota, getting to the Conference Finals, thinking you made it, and then having to go through losing before winning?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: It builds you as a man. The things I thought I wanted and the timing I wanted it to happen, it wasn't meant for me.

But when it needed to happen on God's time, it happened. So it's a testament to my life of believing in the faith, believing in God, knowing that my time was coming, but it was going to be on His time, not on my time.

I just kept my head down. I kept working. I kept getting back up when people pushed me down, put me in the mud and told me I wasn't good enough. I just kept believing in myself. I believed in my work. I believed in my life. I believed in my support system. I just kept pushing and kept putting, like I said, the left foot in front of the right. I kept walking down the path God had for me. I kept believing. I never swayed.

I finally got to the end of that road where you get to see this trophy with your team and the NBA Finals banner behind you.

Q. I forget if it was after Game 1 or Game 2 but you said you really felt your mom's presence and you were playing with a lot of fun, like you were a kid. I wonder if you felt her presence here tonight, and is this the most fun that you've had with the team this season?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: Yeah, of course it's going to be the most fun we had. We won the chip.

But her presence was always felt in my life. You always pray you're going to pick the right woman for you, and I know I did in my fiancée. I damn sure know now with that bag; that bag held it down. Shoutout to Woods by Jordyn.

It's crazy, when she passed, there was so much turmoil in my life. Funny enough, my fiancée, who was a friend at the time, was the only person I got to call before I got to go out there and say bye to her at the hospital. Me and her have a real bond that goes deeper than just physical features and everything like that. We have a true friendship that was built from the ground up.

I remember just always asking her if this is going to be my last time seeing her in the physical and let me feel her spirit at all times. In moments of true pressure and a lot of things going on, I always feel this calming come to me, and it's always her.

It's just great to always feel her arms around me and always to feel her love in my life in so many different ways. So it's a testament. I haven't felt love from a woman like that until I met my fiancée. It really means a lot that, in a way, without sounding weird, like Jackie Junior was able to be here celebrating this moment with me.

Yeah, it's amazing. It's truly a humbling feeling when you know you have walked the path. I stayed faithful. Every decision that I was supposed to make, I made the right one. Feels good to be in this moment.