BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Karl-Anthony Towns scored 26 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in the New York Knicks' 93-92 win over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on March 20, 2026. The center played despite his father recovering from a medical procedure.

Towns was listed as questionable for personal reasons before tipoff. "I wasn't going to play. My pops was adamant he wanted me to play," Karl-Anthony Towns, the New York Knicks center, said after the game. "So I said I would. So I showed up just for the game to play. I'm going to head right back out and go be with him again for the road to recovery."

"I've had a very long day. I wasn't with the team. I was taking care of my family," Towns said.

Karl Towns Sr. played college basketball at Monmouth University and frequently flew commercially to attend New York Knicks road games. Towns's mother, Jacqueline Cruz, died from COVID-19 in 2020.

The Nets played without several key players. The Brooklyn Nets shut down Michael Porter Jr. with a left hamstring strain and will evaluate him in two to three weeks. "Two to three weeks and then obviously there's a ramp-up to go back to competition level, so we cannot predict. But it will be close," Brooklyn Nets coach Jordi Fernández said.

Noah Clowney missed the game with a sprained right wrist and is unlikely to play the next game against the Sacramento Kings. "He has a sprained wrist. He'll be out Friday, most likely he'll be out next game, and then we'll go from there," Fernández said.

Terance Mann was out with an illness, Egor Dëmin with plantar fasciitis, and Day'Ron Sharpe with a thumb injury. Josh Minott scored 22 points, made six 3-pointers (a career best), and added five rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 25 minutes and 47 seconds off the bench in the Nets' loss.

For the Knicks, Jalen Brunson returned to the lineup for his 65th game of the season, qualifying him for postseason awards. Josh Hart was out with runner's knee.