“I feel like we got something else to go win”. That was Karl-Anthony Towns’ response when Mark Grigsby, the studio head of Infinity Ward, asked him how it felt to be a champion. At a recent Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 event that took place in a private section of the Flatiron restaurant, Aqua Roma, Towns, who’s long been known to be a Call of Duty player, was a special guest.
Towns spoke glowingly about the franchise and how he grew up playing the games all the time. Towns also revealed that he used to play a lot with his close friend, Devin Booker, and also shouted out former teammate Anthony Edwards, with whom he also used to play often.
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When Tyler Bahl, the chief marketing officer at Activision, asked the big man who’s between him and the guys he mentioned were better, he answered, “Right now, D-Book,” before jokingly adding, “We were busy trying to win a championship,” to which the crowd applauded.
Towns was then asked about who plays on the Knicks. “I would say JB (Jalen Brunson), Ariel Hukporti, JC (Jordan Clarkson) here and there,” Towns said. Bahl also asked him if there was any trash talking following their gaming sessions. Surprisingly, there apparently isn’t much. He did say that they’re all just “goofy as hell”.
This is when Gigsby, who actually got his start as an animator at Infinity Ward and served as the voice actor in Call of Duty 4, asked the now champion about how it’s all felt. Towns spoke passionately about growing up as a Knicks fan and understanding just how much pain and suffering the fanbase had experienced.
“Honestly, so surreal. I grew up a Knicks fan, and I know how it is to see grief and misery in the fans’ eyes. So to give them something to cheer for, myself, as a Knicks fan, it’s kind of crazy.” Towns said, “I honestly feel as a player, I actually haven’t won a championship yet. We got something else to go win. I’m already locked in.”
The conversation then transitioned to the Knicks’ 29-point comeback. Town was asked by Bahl if any of the Knicks had heard about or known about Wu Tang Clang foreshadowing the comeback via their Knicks in five proclamation at the end of their halftime performance. He got laughs out of the crowd when he started off his reply with an honest, “I ain’t hear [expletive] about that,”. Towns did open up about what the feel of the locker room was like before the historic comeback, though.
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“I just went straight to the back and started talking to everybody about how we got the experience. We knew we could win the game. I never had a doubt that we would win the game” Towns said. “We just had to start in the third quarter fast. We had to make sure we got right to work.”
One of the guests then asked the Knick if there was a song or anything that they used to get them hyped. Towns kept it a buck. “I ain’t gonna lie to you. I don’t think no music was played. I was just talking at halftime. Jose Alvarado spoke up. Mike [Brown] came into the room and was like, ‘Hey, I guess we swing for the fences.’”
He went on to elaborate that he felt like there was no way the Knicks would lose two straight at home. Towns admitted that he and the rest of the team felt like they couldn’t let the fans down and cited last year’s Celtics series as to why he was so confident.
After the Q&A, I was able to speak to Towns one-on-one for a quick conversation. I asked him how the off-season was going, how his body was feeling after the physical postseason, and how he felt about the team going forward in light of the offseason moves. Towns, as expected, still feels very good about where the team is, and as previously mentioned, was already looking ahead to what needs to be done to make it back-to-back championships.
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The big man, though, did joke that it had only been four weeks given, which feels odd given the quick turnaround. He cited Brunson’s surgery, Hart’s finger, his own lingering injuries, as well as other guys’ ailments as a major reason why the guys had taken their time, which, to be fair, is very deserved. Towns then finished off our conversation joking about how he wants to go on a trip with his fiancée, Jordyn Woods, but has yet to find the time to do so. “I hope maybe next week,” he said, but also added that he doesn’t even know what he’s doing tomorrow, so it’s been difficult for him to plan the offseason.
This was all a part of an incredible evening put together by the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 team that was in the city for Fanatic Fest, which took place this weekend. The gaming franchise has now amassed 500 million copies sold and has generated over $35 billion to date. They were one of the pioneers in connecting the gaming world to the sports world when they featured Kobe Bryant in a live-action trailer for Black Ops back in 2010. Since then, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant have become playable characters in games, while championship teams like the Thunder and these Knicks have credited the games as a way to enhance chemistry and communication.
Modern Warfare’s story mode is centered around North and South Korea, as can be seen in its exciting reveal trailer. And their highly anticipated multiplayer map “Kill Block”, which was inspired by Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium’s retractable pitch, results in dynamic battlefields that change between rounds, giving players over 500 different configurations.
At Fanatic Fest, they once again represented why they are considered the bridge between sports, gaming, and even Hollywood. Inde Navarette, the actress who has blown up after her performance in the horror movie Obsession, director Peter Berg, and Durant, participated in a panel moderated by Katie Nolan, Bahl, and Grigsby. And earlier in the day, Towns was named the champion of the first-ever Call of Duty Battle of New York when he beat Josh Hart, who subbed in for Brunson, who is recovering from surgery.
