On his Hall of Fame night, Karl-Anthony Towns talked UK basketball’s future
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- Former Kentucky player Karl-Anthony Towns was inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame.
- Towns averaged 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game during his lone UK season.
- Towns was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft.
When reflecting on his one-and-done Kentucky basketball career, Karl-Anthony Towns spoke of gratitude and togetherness.
As Towns described it, his induction into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday night — alongside five others in the 2025 class, including former UK women’s basketball great Makayla Epps — was just as much a team honor as it was an individual one.
Towns’ lone 2014-15 year at Kentucky was defined by a generational season of basketball. The Cats went 38-1 overall, losing only to Wisconsin in the Final Four. That remains UK’s most recent Final Four trip.
Towns’ individual statistics speak further to his point. His averages — 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks — don’t necessarily jump off the page. But, Towns was part of a star-studded UK roster that featured seven future NBA draft picks. Being part of that much talent on one college team is enough to explain why Towns feels his individual accolade as a UK Hall of Famer is representative of his team’s standing in school history.
“I know you guys are waiting for me to say, ‘I made the Hall of Fame,’ but we made the Hall of Fame,” Towns said prior to his induction Friday. “This is me just representing my whole team, the coaching staff that was with me and all the amazing fans that supported us. For us to make the Hall of Fame is really important and I think that it just speaks volumes to the legacy we were all able to leave here as a team.”
More than a decade has passed since Towns called Lexington home, physically at least. But some things haven’t changed for the 7-foot big man, who reached the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals earlier this year in his first season with the New York Knicks after a blockbuster 2024 trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team that drafted Towns first overall in 2015.
Towns — who received the news that he made the UK Athletics Hall of Fame during the NBA playoffs in May — was elated when telling media members that he got to eat Indi’s Chicken, a common refrain from ex-Cats who return to Lexington and seek out the Broadway fast-food joint.
Towns’ old college coach was even back in the city to celebrate with him. While ex-UK and current Arkansas coach John Calipari didn’t attend Friday’s induction ceremony at Central Bank Center, he did make it to Lexington to celebrate afterward. Calipari posted on social media that he dined with Towns, Towns’ family, ex-UK assistant coach Kenny Payne, wife Ellen and son Brad on Friday night at the Granddam restaurant inside The Manchester hotel.
“So happy for Karl and his family on his Hall of Fame induction! Ellen and Brad got to attend the induction and I just made it up with Kenny to celebrate with them after!” Calipari’s social media post read. “Proud of you Karl and so glad we could be here to support and celebrate with you!”
Striking a somewhat obvious parallel to this was Mark Pope’s involvement with Towns during his return trip to Lexington.
There was Towns, stopping by Kentucky basketball practice, speaking to the current UK team and signing the program’s alumni wall that’s styled like the Rupp Arena floor.
What advice was given by Towns to the 2025-26 UK basketball team during that visit? It was the same advice Towns got himself while wearing the blue and the white.
“Be in the present,” Towns shared. “I think we all know in this circle, let’s not kid ourselves, when you’ve got Kentucky across your chest and you’re playing for the basketball team, you’re the rock stars of Lexington. You’re the most famous athletes and people in all of Lexington. My advice to them was just try to make everyone proud (and) show everyone what it truly means to be a Kentucky Wildcat. Treat everyone with respect, have tremendous amounts of humility and appreciate this moment.”
“… I just wanted them to understand that it is one of the biggest honors you’ll receive in life, to be able to call yourself a Wildcat,” Towns added. “I want them to stay in the present. Don’t worry about the future. Don’t worry about possibilities with NBA and money and all that stuff. I just want them to live in the present and enjoy this moment. You may never be in another room with that much talent ever again, and if anyone can tell them that, I definitely can with our team.”
Pope and his wife, Lee Anne, were part of the Friday night crowd that watched Towns’ Hall of Fame induction.
Of course, prior to that ceremony, Towns was asked about the events of last spring, and his thoughts on the Calipari-to-Pope coaching transition.
“Coach Pope is amazing. I got to know him on a personal level, and obviously as a coach he’s one of a kind, he’s one of the best,” Towns said. “I think Kentucky is in for a lot of years of really great coaching and great leadership.”
One of the storylines last April, after Pope was appointed as Calipari’s replacement at Kentucky, was the importance of maintaining a positive relationship between ex-Calipari players and the UK program.
Pope got off to a strong start in this regard by appearing on John Wall’s podcast last summer. In the months since, plenty more greats from the Cal era have reaffirmed their commitment to Kentucky under Pope’s guidance.
Towns provided an example of this when he referenced Devin Booker — a fellow member of that storied 2014-15 UK team — outfitting the Kentucky basketball team with his signature Nike sneaker.
And you can put Towns himself firmly in the camp of former Kentucky stars who support what Pope has done in the early stages of his UK tenure.
“I think that with Coach Pope, again we’ll be seeing not only great players come to Kentucky and Lexington, but we’ll see these players leave Lexington and become men,” Towns said of Kentucky’s second-year coach. “That’s the most important thing. You come to university and parents trust Coach Pope and the coaching staff to raise their boys. I think he’s doing a great job raising boys.”
