Karl Anthony Towns disputes ESPN report about knee procedure: ‘Who did that, Centel?’

Karl-Anthony Towns is primed for the 2025-26 NBA season and strongly shut down an ESPN report that he needed a knee and finger procedure to get ready.

The New York Knicks held their media day event Tuesday morning, with training camp opening about a week earlier than most teams because of their Oct. 2 preseason game in Abu Dhabi. And when Towns took the podium, he was asked about the knee and finger procedures he underwent during the offseason, which was news to him.

“Who did that, Centel?” 🤣

According to Karl-Anthony Town, don’t believe any offseason procedure rumors. pic.twitter.com/HbGwge0GkC

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) September 23, 2025

“Huh?” Towns said with surprise after Stefan Bondy of the New York Post asked the Knicks center about a knee procedure.

“No, I did not,” Towns said emphatically. “Where are you hearing this? You came on media day to come and put that out here?”

Bondy insisted he saw a report about Towns needing a knee procedure after last season, believing the report came from ESPN.

“Who did that, Centel?” Towns asked in reference to the parody account NBA Centel which drew a chuckle out of most everybody in the media room.

Bondy said, “my bad,” but he later pulled up the ESPN headline from June 4, where Ramona Shelburne reported Towns underwent “treatment” for knee and finger injuries, and showed it to the Knicks center.

“That don’t even say procedures,” Towns said with a big smile before walking out of the room.

The interaction between Towns and Bondy was lighthearted, but after reading through the ESPN article that prompted the question, someone needs to clarify something.

In the June report from ESPN, the headline and lede both said Towns underwent “treatment,” which is vague enough that it could have meant something as minor as putting ice on the injuries. But a few paragraphs down, Shelburne did write Towns “chose to immediately have procedures so he would have the most time possible to recover before next season.”

Based on that sentence, it was entirely reasonable for Bondy to ask Towns about those “procedures.” Either the term “procedures” was overstated and used too liberally, or Towns is attempting to downplay whatever treatment he spent the summer recovering from. But the question from Bondy was more than fair.