Karl-Anthony Towns Threw a Very Public Shade Bomb at Kenny Atkinson During the ESPYs
Karl-Anthony Towns still has jokes about Kenny Atkinson. Months after the New York Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, Towns took another dig at the Cavs head coach during the ESPYs on Wednesday night.
Accepting the award for Best Team on behalf of the Knicks, Towns thanked the fans, the front office, his teammates, and then dropped this line: “And a special thank you to Kenny Atkinson, who I believe analytically won two of the four games we played against him.”
The crowd lost it. So did the internet.
For anyone who missed the backstory, Atkinson made himself into an all-time internet punching bag after the Knicks went up 3-0 in that Eastern Conference Finals series. When asked about the sweep possibility, he claimed the Cavs had actually “outplayed the Knicks analytically in Games 2 and 3.” Cleveland was, of course, down 3-0 at the time.
They got swept in four. And Atkinson has never lived it down.
Towns and the Knicks obviously found the whole thing hilarious. They went on to beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the NBA Finals to capture the franchise first title since 1973. That championship run, plus Atkinson inability to shut up about advanced metrics, has given them roughly a year worth of material.
Wednesday ESPYs speech was just the latest chapter. And it is not going to be the last.
Here is why this is not going away. The Knicks are back next season with essentially the same core, and Cleveland is bringing back Atkinson. He got a contract extension despite the flame-out. So this rivalry is only going to intensify.
The Cavs have added James Harden on a new deal after Harden declined his $42.3 million player option. They are trying to get LeBron in free agency. They are the Eastern Conference team most invested in beating New York. And their coach is still the guy who lost four straight to the Knicks after saying he had won two of them.
That is a recipe for a lot more shade this year.
Atkinson, to his credit, has handled the roasting with a mostly straight face. He has admitted that the analytics comment was ill-timed. He has said he understood why fans mocked him. But the joke is baked in now. Every time Cleveland loses to New York, the “analytically” line will resurface.
Towns is having the time of his life with it. This is a guy who spent his first eight seasons in Minnesota watching other teams win championships. Now he has a ring, a Best Team ESPY, and a running joke to torment a division rival. Life is good.
The Knicks open the 2026-27 season as favorites to make it back to the Finals. They also open as clear favorites to beat the Cavs again if the two teams meet in the playoffs. If that happens, expect Towns to have a fresh Atkinson zinger ready to go.
Kenny brought this on himself. And Karl-Anthony Towns is loving every second of it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
