The KAT is in the bag!
Karl-Anthony Towns has been named the NBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December, marking a career-first for the 29-year-old center in his debut season with the New York Knicks.
Towns’ dominant month was the driving force behind the Knicks’ impressive 12–2 December record, which included an eight-game winning streak to close out the year.
The @Kia NBA Players of the Month for December! #KiaPOTM
West: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (@okcthunder)
East: Karl-Anthony Towns (@nyknicks) pic.twitter.com/o80f5x3YhS— NBA (@NBA) January 2, 2025
In 13 appearances during December, Towns averaged a double-double, posting 23.2 points and 14.6 rebounds per game.
During that span, Towns put up multiple 30-point, 20-rebound outings, making him the first Knick to achieve such a feat in a season since Patrick Ewing did it in 1989–90.
Towns’ efficiency shooting the rock has been equally, if not more, impressive; Bodega Cat has posted shooting splits of 54.8 percent from the field and 44 percent from beyond the arc, both career highs.
Through 32 games, Towns is averaging 24.9 points, a career-high 13.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game.
Thanks to KAT and the rest of the mob, the Knicks have surged up the Eastern Conference standings, sitting at 24–10 entering Friday’s matchup against the OKC Thunder and being just one game behind the defending champion Boston Celtics.
Teammate Jalen Brunson was also in the running for the monthly award, with JB averaging 24.4 points and 7.5 assists while leading the Knicks’ offense from the point.
Out West, OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the player of the month in what is a sublime storyline ahead of the matchup between the Thunder, winners of 12 straight games without counting their loss to the Bucks in the NBA Cup Final, and the Knicks.
SGA enters Friday’s matchup after averaging over 33 points and 2.5 steals per game in December, posting season-long averages of 31.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game.
As a meaningless but fun note, and before he ruined it on Thursday by dumping 29 pops on the LA Clippers, Shai had bagged exactly 1,000 points through 32 games, making it 1K-29 before tonight’s tipoff.