For Karl Anthony-Towns, the coronavirus has been a personal tragedy.
The Minnesota All-Star lost his mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, to COVID-19 on April 13.
Towns was very close to his mother and he and his family continue to grieve, devastated by her loss.
But in the wake of the tragedy, Timberwolves’ president of basketball operations, Gersson Rosas says Towns has been “incredible through this whole process.”
The Timberwolves center made a $100,000 donation to the Mayo Clinic to aid in coronavirus testing.
@MayoClinic has begun rolling out a test to detect the virus that causes COVID-19. My hope is that we can fight this virus quicker and more efficiently by increasing the testing capabilities and availability and Mayo Clinic’s overall COVID-19 response. pic.twitter.com/af9vcO711p
— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) March 16, 2020
The donation was expected to increase testing capacity from a few hundred to more than 1,000 tests per day, according to the clinic.
As the NBA starts to ramp up individual workouts in hopes of restarting play in July, Towns continues to deal with the loss of his mother.
Cruz-Towns could be seen in many videos attending her son’s games and when he formally committed to Kentucky.
COVID-19 has impacted patients to varying degrees, some showing no symptoms while proving to be deadly for others.
The NBA is taking every precaution possible in the effort to restart the season.
The NBA players that contracted the virus recovered very quickly, but some players may not react the same.
The Timberwolves are expected to restart individual workouts Thursday, wearing masks and staying 12 feet apart.
Rosas added about Anthony-Towns:
“For any of you guys that know Karl-Anthony Towns, he’s a very educated and intelligent individual who understands what’s going on.“
Prayers continue to go out to the Towns family.