Timberwolves' Towns Named Rookie of the Month

Minneapolis/St. Paul – The NBA today named Minnesota Timberwolves forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns as its Kia NBA Western Conference Rookie of the Month for February. This is the fourth consecutive month Towns has won the award, joining Andrew Wiggins (November, December 2014, January, February 2015) as the second player in Wolves history to earn Kia NBA Rookie of the Month honors in four consecutive months. The Timberwolves become the first team to have two players win conference Rookie of the Month awards at least four times in consecutive seasons.

Towns led all qualified rookies in scoring (21.1 ppg), rebounding (11.8 rpg) and minutes played (34.5 mpg), and ranked third in field goal accuracy (53.7%) and blocked shots (1.64 bpg) in February. The 7-0 forward/center also contributed nine point/rebound double-doubles during the month, tops among all rookies and second league-wide. Towns became the first Timberwolves player to win the Taco Bell Skills Challenge on Feb. 13 as part of All-Star Weekend in Toronto and played in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge on Feb. 12.

The first overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft, Towns recorded a game-high 26 points, a season-high 17 rebounds and three blocks in the Feb. 6 win over Chicago, then tallied a season-high 35 points alongside 11 rebounds and three blocks as Minnesota overcame an 18-point deficit to beat Toronto on Feb. 10. He totaled 28 points, 13 rebounds and four assists in the Feb. 22 victory over Boston and totaled 30 points (13-for-20 shooting), 15 rebounds and four assists to help the Wolves erase a 14-point deficit in the final 15 minutes to win at New Orleans on Feb. 27. With that effort, he became the first rookie to collect 30+ pts/15+ reb since Blake Griffin in March 2011.