Karl-Anthony Towns Named NBA Social Justice Champion for 2023-24 Awards Season

Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns is the recipient of the NBA's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award.

The honor, which began with the 2020-21 season, recognizes one player "for pursuing social justice and upholding the league's decades-long values of equality, respect and inclusion."

The Miami Heat's Bam Adebayo, New Orleans Pelicans' CJ McCollum, Oklahoma City Thunder's Lindy Waters III and Los Angeles Clippers' Russell Westbrook were the other finalists.

Andscape's Marc J. Spears reported on Towns' victory shortly before Thursday's announcement and detailed what made KAT stand out from the pack.

"Helping Towns' candidacy was that he has been an advocate for voting rights," Spears wrote. "The four-time NBA All-Star played a key role in the passage of Minnesota's Restore the Vote bill (H.F.28), a bipartisan legislation that restored the right to vote to more than 55,000 formerly incarcerated people in March 2023.

Towns has ventured into film production as well, helping to fund and create projects that shine a light on social justice issues.

His newest accolade comes as the 28-year-old stands poised to enjoy significantly more success on the court than at any other point in his NBA career. The Timberwolves swept the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs and hold a 2-0 series lead over the reigning champion Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals.

Towns is averaging 20.7 points and 9.0 rebounds along with shooting 53.8 percent from beyond the arc through six games.

While Anthony Edwards is getting more plaudits than other Wolves players, this postseason is silencing a lot of the skeptics who have questioned KAT's suitability as a franchise cornerstone.