Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns said on Friday he tested positive for COVID-19.
The diagnosis is especially difficult for Towns, whose mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, died of complications from COVID-19 on April 13 at the age of 59. She had been dealing with the virus for a month.
Before the season, Towns said six other family members have also died of complications from the virus.
“Before tonight’s game, I got another horrible phone call that I tested positive for COVID,” Towns said in a statement. statement shared on social media. “I will immediately isolate and follow every protocol. I pray every day that this nightmare of a virus will disappear and I implore everyone to continue to take it seriously by taking all necessary precautions …
“It breaks my heart that my family, and especially my father and sister, continue to suffer from the anxiety that this diagnosis brings, because we know all too well what the end result could be. To my niece and nephew … I promise you I won’t end up in a box next to Grandma and I’ll beat this. “
Minnesota previously announced that Friday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies had been postponed due to contacts in the Timberwolves organization.
Gersson Rosas, the team’s president of basketball operations, said at a press conference Friday that the organization has undergone two positive tests in the past two days and that one player is in the league’s contact tracking protocols.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Rosas said of Towns’ diagnosis. “Having to experience this, for Karl Sr., his sister and nieces is heartbreaking.”
Towns, 25, missed six games this season with a wrist injury, but returned to court last week. He has averaged 22 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists in four games.