Karl-Anthony Towns credits Jeremy Lin for turning him into a Knicks fan

New York Knicks starting center Karl-Anthony Towns says his fandom with his team began with Jeremy Lin. Speaking during NBA Finals media availability last week, Towns recalled how Lin’s legendary “Linsanity” run with New York in 2012 pushed him to follow the franchise closely as a teenager in New Jersey.

“I truly want to give a shoutout to Jeremy Lin because he really made me a Knicks fan and had me at Modell’s,” Towns said Friday. “It was crazy trying to find his jersey. I have so much love for Jeremy Lin, he’s one of my favorite Knicks of all time, one of my favorite players of all time.”

Towns, who grew up in New Jersey, was 16 when Lin unexpectedly became the center of the Knicks’ 2011-12 season. Lin began February 2012 as a little-used guard, then led New York on a seven-game winning streak that turned him into an international sports figure and made Knicks merchandise difficult to find across the New York area.

Towns’ comments came after Knicks staff showed him a recent social media video in which Lin said he had planned to return to Madison Square Garden wearing a Towns jersey before the Knicks advanced too quickly for him to attend. “I haven’t been back to the Garden since Linsanity,” Lin said in the post. “My outfit was gonna be a KAT jersey…I’m a big supporter of KAT.”

“He made me so passionate about the Knicks,” Towns said. “It’s crazy now that I’m in this position, in this chair, talking to you guys as a Knicks player.” Towns said hearing Lin mention him was “kind of crazy” because “the love I have for him and what he’s done for me and my Knicks fandom is second to none.”

Lin is set to join ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, with appearances expected on “NBA Today,” “SportsCenter” and “Hoops Streams.” Lin’s Game 1 role was scheduled to include an appearance with Scott Van Pelt in San Antonio.

The timing gives the Knicks’ Finals run a direct link to one of the franchise’s most culturally significant eras. New York is making its first Finals appearance since 1999 and pursuing its first championship since 1973, while Lin’s return as an analyst places him back in the Knicks conversation more than a decade after “Linsanity.”