While the real Kevin Durant is busy winning 3 consecutive NBA scoring crowns and attempting to lead his Thunder teammates to the franchise’s first NBA Championship in OKC, the next KD is already tearing up HS varsity competition as a 6’11 freshman in New Jersey.
Even though some may think it’s unfair to compare a 15 year old freshman phenom to an NBA superstar, consider the fact that Towns has already been selected for the Dominican Republic National Team, alongside some current elite level NBA stars like Al Horford and Francisco Garcia.
Dominican team head coach John Calipari has gone on record saying that the future is very bright for the multi-talented center, who is the #1 rated player in the 2015 recruiting class. Coach Cal should know, as he has helped guide the careers of future NBA stars like Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, and John Wall in recent years at Kentucky. Not surprisingly, Towns now lists Kentucky as his #1 choice to play college ball in a few seasons.
Already a legitimate 6’11 and 225lbs, Towns has an unbelievable skill set where he runs the floor and plays like a big man, yet has amazingly advanced ball-handling skills and can shoot the 3 with an alarming amount of distance and accuracy, which draws the instant comparison to Durant. Towns may be more comparable to former NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki since Towns is probably a better post player at this stage of his career than that of Durant as a HS freshman.
Hailing from Metuchen, New Jersey, Towns helped lead his St Joseph’s HS squad to a NJ State Class A Title and made a deep run in the NJ Tournament of Champions, regularly holding his own against incoming Division I recruits on top teams like the famed St Benedicts, St. Anthony’s and St Patrick’s high schools.
At only 15 years of age, Towns already sports a size 20 shoe and is no where near finished growing into his larger than life frame. One look at some of his HS highlight footage and Towns looks almost freakish as he towers over everyone on both teams but also appears graceful and athletic with the basketball.
Check out Karl Towns Jr Freshman Mixtape:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
