Karl-Anthony Towns deserves more respect for becoming a walking deep playoff run in the last 3 years.
You wouldn't think it these days, but KAT was seen as a rock tied around Minnesota's neck in the early 2020s, during Ant's initial rise. He was getting cooked by the general fanbase left and right.
The questioning didn't stop at him never becoming good enough to be a championship #1 (true), or a #2 (jury is still out I suppose), but it genuinely reached a point where he was being seen as a flat out negative asset by some sections of the fanbase, akin to the likes of Zach Lavine these days.
Fast forward a few seasons, and the man went to both the WCF and the ECF in consecutive seasons, and is currently up 3-0 on Philly in the 2nd round in the East.
20/10/3 averages on 50/37/87 splits over these last 3 years in the playoffs, and he arrived there in a multitude of different ways- doing a hell of a job on Jokic 1v1 with Rudy playing help defense in '24, then averaging 25 on solid efficiency against Indiana the following year, all the way to playing a highly efficient, but low shot volume Point-Center this year while somehow playing solid defense too against Atlanta and Philly.
He still has massive limitations: the foul trouble, the lumbering feet, impulsiveness..... But he has ultimately shown himself to be ready to give 100% effort in whatever role the coach and the team require of him, and he has kind of sneakily become a winning player at this point imo.
I understand that he was probably projected to be so much more than this back when he was first drafted, but this is still a very satisfying overall career arc to me.