Karl-Anthony Towns expresses ‘guilt’ over coronavirus treatment he received

After Karl-Anthony Towns overcame what he described as a “scary” battle with the coronavirus, the Minnesota Timberwolves center also expressed his guilt about the treatment he received while many others don’t have the same access.

Towns announced he tested positive for the coronavirus on Jan. 15 and he missed 13 games. His experience with the virus extends beyond himself, too. He lost his mother in April and six other family members to the virus.

He returned to the court Wednesday, playing 31 minutes and scoring 18 points with 10 rebounds in the Timberwolves’ loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Towns’ overwhelming feeling after the game wasn’t about his performance, though.

“I felt very guilty about the treatment I got,” Towns said (via ESPN). “And I feel that should be more widely available to Americans, to anyone in the world. I felt very guilty even getting something that could help me more just recover, stay healthy, stay alive. There is such mental strain through all this time, a feeling of guilt because of the resources I have, and I wish I could spread these resources with as many people as possible.”

Towns admitted he wasn’t completely mentally prepared to play Wednesday. His coach, Ryan Saunders, lauded Towns’ openness to express his grief, speaking openly about the difficult last few months — beginning with losing family members to the coronavirus before facing it himself.

“I am a high-risk case,” Towns said of his experience with the coronavirus. “COVID did not treat me well whatsoever. A lot of scary nights. One of the things that I told my sister when I got COVID was that, ’Hey, I got it, and I don’t got a good version of it. I got a lot of COVID in me, but I am going to fight and beat it.’”