Minnesota Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns Can Ball Outdoors Too

Karl-Anthony Towns recently joined Gatorade’s 12th annual “Beat the Heat” program, and he proved his ability to ball outdoors in the process. Towns went to Venice Beach and played against some talented competition. He was named the NBA‘s rookie of the year for the 2015-16 season, and the future looks bright for this young man.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have quite a nice stockpile of youthful talent, and that is why Tom Thibodeau was so keen to take the head coaching job this summer. Thibodeau is also the president of basketball operations, and he’ll have control over roster and personnel decisions as a result.

Towns faced off against some streetballers from the Venice Beach League, and a few of the players were Robin “Sik Wit It” Kennedy, Larry “Bone Collector” Williams and Kwame “The Freak of Nature” Alexander. Those dudes definitely get high grades for their cool nicknames. You can check out the highlights from California below.

Gatorade has teamed with athletes from both the NBA and NFL to raise awareness about how adequate hydration can help reduce heat-related illnesses during athletic activity. This educational campaign is truly important to the company.

“Athletes don’t always fully comprehend how dehydration can negatively impact performance, nor what an appropriate hydration strategy looks like,” said Dr. James Carter, Director of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute. “Through the Beat the Heat program and the help of our partners, we are able to educate athletes, parents and coaches about the importance of proper hydration and what safety measures to consider while active in the heat.”

Some of the athletes featured this summer include Eli Manning, DeMarco Murray, Emmanuel Sanders and J.J. Watt. Towns was the 2014 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year, and he gave a moving speech at that time about how his father scrimped and saved to build him an outdoor hoop. It was an inspirational moment, and it appeared like he spoke those words off the cuff.

He is well on his way to becoming a superstar after averaging 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game last season, and it should be fun to see what he can accomplish off the floor as well. Towns is definitely off to a great start by helping out the kids this summer, but something about the big man’s maturity indicates that we should only expect more from him during his career.