Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns said Friday he has tested positive for COVID-19.
The diagnosis is especially harsh for Towns, whose mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, died at age 59 on April 13 due to complications from COVID-19. He had been treating the virus for a month.
Towns said before the season that six other family members have also died from complications of the virus.
“Before tonight’s game, I got another terrible call that I gave positive to COVID,” Towns said in a shared statement on social media. “I will isolate immediately and follow all the protocols. I pray every day for this nightmare of a virus to subside and I urge 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 entails, as we know all too well what the end result may be. To my niece and nephew. .I promise you I won’t end up in a box next to grandma and I will win this. “
Minnesota previously announced that its Friday night game against the Memphis Grizzlies had been postponed due to follow-up contacts with the Timberwolves organization.
Gersson Rosas, president of the team’s basketball operations, said Friday during a news conference that the organization has had two positive tests in the past two days and that one player is on the team’s contact tracking protocols. League.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Rosas said of Towns ’diagnosis. “For him this has to happen. For Karl Sr., his sister and nieces, it’s heartbreaking.”
Towns, 25, missed six games this season with a wrist injury but returned to the court last week. He averages 22 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists in four games.