Karl‑Anthony Towns Opens Up About Grief and Healing on World Mental Health Day

Just ten days before the Knicks raised their championship banner, the league’s newest champion stood on a modest stage in Manhattan and, for a few minutes, let the world see the raw side of a star who’s still learning to live with loss.

It was World Mental Health Day, and the nonprofit Project Healthy Minds had gathered a small crowd of fans, therapists and a few fellow athletes. Towns, the All‑Star big man who helped the Knicks clinch their first title in decades, spoke in a voice that wavered a little, as if remembering something he hadn’t told anyone in years.

“Six years ago my mom died from complications of COVID‑19,” he said, pausing to let the silence settle. “I’m still grieving. It’s not something that just… goes away after a season or a trophy.”

He recalled the night before the 2026 NBA Finals when a calm, almost cinematic feeling washed over him. “I was on the court, and for a moment it was just me, her, and the game,” he recalled. “I felt like an artist, with a paintbrush in my hand, painting a picture of love for her on the hardwood.”

There was a point, he admitted, when basketball felt hollow—like a stage set without an audience. “After my mom passed, I didn’t know if I even wanted to play,” Towns confessed, a hint of melancholy slipping through his smile.

What helped, he said, was finding someone who would truly listen. He named Arnie Kander, a strength‑and‑wellness coach, as the person who let him unload the weight he’d been carrying. “Just to be heard, to unload that pain onto someone who gets it—makes life feel lighter,” Towns explained.

Project Healthy Minds hopes Towns’s story will encourage others to seek help. The nonprofit runs a free, online marketplace that matches people with therapists, psychiatrists, support groups and more. Their World Mental Health Day festival featured yoga, art therapy and speakers, aiming to make mental‑health care feel as normal as a morning workout.

Sharing the stage was Rich Kleiman, the CEO of Boardroom and longtime manager of Kevin Durant. Kleiman said athletes are finally feeling safer talking about anxiety and depression, citing DeMar DeRozan’s tweet about depression and Kevin Love’s essay on anxiety as early trail‑blazers.

“Most players aren’t comfortable spilling their whole story in the locker room,” Kleiman noted. “But they’re starting to recognize how much that weight affects their game and their lives.”

Another panel featured former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who opened up about his borderline personality disorder, and Gotham FC forward Midge Purce, who redefined what toughness means. “Tough is feeling everything, then still finding the resilience to move forward,” Purce said, echoing Town’s own sentiment.

The event also hinted at the nonprofit’s future plans: more collaborations with athletes, more “real‑life” community events, and a push to normalize therapy— even taking sessions in a cafeteria, as Marshall once did, just to demystify the process.

Project Healthy Minds CEO Phil Schermer summed it up succinctly: “It takes men, especially those we see as physical symbols of strength, to be vulnerable. That vulnerability can fuel their greatest successes.”

For Towns, the conversation isn’t just about his own healing; it’s about opening a door for anyone who’s sitting in the dark, wondering if it’s okay to ask for help. He may have lifted a championship trophy, but the real victory, he says, is learning to carry grief with grace.