"This is for Ant": Trainer Matt Mazarei reveals how Karl-Anthony Towns turned his 2022-23 injury into a positive (Exclusive)
The message initially surprised Karl-Anthony Towns’ trainer. After all, Matt Mazarei had become accustomed to the Minnesota Timberwolves star showing his competitiveness. He often showed his obsessiveness with arriving early to workouts and with extending those sessions just to perfect a new drill.
When Towns missed 53 games in the 2022-23 season while nursing a strained right calf, however, Mazarei saw a player show more enlightened perspective than harboring frustration with his ailment.
The reason? Towns often told Mazarei that his absence “is a blessing in disguise” because it would allow Wolves forward Anthony Edwards to blossom into a bigger role.
“It was really cool to hear that,” Mazarei told Sportskeeda. “So many players have ego. For him to say that, he was really sincere and genuine.”
That prompted Mazarei to tell Towns, ‘You guys deserve a championship when it’s all said and done.’
Don’t look now, but the Edwards and Towns might win their first NBA title next month. Minnesota has a 2-0 lead over the Denver Nuggets in their second-round matchup, partly a testament to how both Edwards and Towns have played at an elite level to seriously threaten the NBA’s defending champions.
Matt Mazarei on training Karl-Anthony Towns (Exclusive)
Mazarei spoke to Sportskeeda about that dynamic and other topics. That includes details on Towns’ off-season work to improve his chemistry with center Rudy Gobert, whether he agrees with Towns that he is the best shooting big man of all time and more.
Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and condensed.
As someone who has worked with KAT for his whole career, how do you evaluate his season so far compared to other seasons?
Mazarei: “The No. 1 thing is that he has been healthy with this roster, finally, for somewhat of a full year. He missed the last month. But at least he got in 50-plus games with the crew. They were the only crew to give Denver a test last year. They played really close games, but then lost a couple of them at the end. Some of those could’ve made it into an extended series. Seeing what they could’ve done with Karl missing an entire season basically and playing only Rudy, ANT and crew before the USA basketball summer really opened up his gate."
"I saw signs that this team was going to be super special. So in past seasons, Karl has always done his thing and has been very efficient in all categories. That’s what we really emphasize every offseason, even since predraft. I always challenge him to be a ‘50-40-90’ guy. That’s what he strives for. His efficiency is obviously blossoming with this fully intact roster right now. Mike Conley has been a huge, huge help as well with being the general, lead vet and showing these guys how to be a true professional and approach the game. Every thing was seeded and planted for years, and it’s been blossoming now. It’s beautiful to see.”
You mentioned KAT’s ‘50-40-90 goal.’ He came really close…
Mazarei: “So close!!” (laughs)
(Towns shot 50.4% from the field, 41.6% from 3 and 87.3% from the free-throw line). How did KAT look at that?
Mazarei: “He knows he will get it. He knows he will get it with a promising, healthy season and knows the variables involved that could be detrimental. We always joke around about it. We never let it get to us. He never lets it get to him as far as a personal vendetta. But he knows and I know that he’ll get it before the end of his career.”
What are the controllables that will give him the best chance to get to the finish line?
Mazarei: “He just has to stay healthy. I feel like that’s really the main attribution to his demise on that ‘50-40-90’ goal. He will be on track and then, all of a sudden, a drastic injury happens. Let’s knock on wood, as we do, and see if he can sustain a full season like he did his first three years. He was ‘The Terminator.’”
KAT told me before that he credits a lot of his efficiency to have his off-season work focus on having a lot of makes in a row. What does that look like?
Mazarei: “Arnie Kander is a legend, an absolute legend and was with the Pistons and is with Orlando this year [on its sports training staff]. That’s why Orlando made a really big jump. He’s a guru, man. He blessed me with all of the ‘Bad Boy Pistons’ drills. There’s a ‘Bill Laimbeer’ drill that focuses on the elbow spot. I put a little spice into it and made an NBA 3-point line spot as well. It’s all on the move, but you have to shoot the same shot in the same position. It’s at the elbow off of lateral movement and you backpedal after every shot. We’ve extended it to the NBA line as well. Then you have to make four in a row. Then you go to the other side and work on each angle and you have to make four in a row. I don’t stop. The first couple of times we’ve done the drill and him off coming off vacation, he might be rusty. But it’s only for five minutes. Then it’s automatic. Once we started doing everything with that incentive that you have to make it in a row and that you have to be efficient, it became natural."
"Another drill is a ‘Rasheed Wallace drill.’ He shoots 24 3s around the NBA 3. He only takes centimeter to inch steps laterally after each shot. We actually implemented that drill the first summer before he won his 3-point contest [2022 NBA All-Star weekend]. I really attribute that drill to him winning it. We’ve always joked since his rookie year that he could shoot like a monster. We would say, ‘You’re going to win a 3-point contest.’ But I feel like that with him making it 24 out of 24 [times] helped. Before the 24 out of 24 mark, it was insanity. He went 23 out of 24 and 23 out of 24. He had only missed the second-to-last shot. It was crazy. I’ve never seen that type of efficiency. He was told that Rasheed Wallace made 23 out of 24. So his competitiveness emerged. KAT seems like a really playful dude, but we’re competitors in everything. We play video games and do everything together. He’s so competitive (laughs).”
What are the video game battles like?
Mazarei: “We play together. If one of us drops the ball or gets a turnover in gaming terms, we’re on each other.” (laughs).
Which games do you all play?
Mazarei: “‘Call of Duty.’ That’s stuff he’s known for. He’s a tank. No one would ever know that he’s got his alias name. It’s not just about what he does on the court. Or with him winning the Kareem award [Towns won the NBA’s Social Justice Champion award named after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar]. With video games, he’s really good. He’s a jack of all trades.”
What’s it like being his teammate in ‘Call of Duty?’
Mazarei: “It’s awesome. You can see how he leads through the game. It’s very similar to how he leads as a teammate on the court. He’s always giving. He’s always very, very into checking in on you. It’s awesome. His video game characters relate to his real personality. It’s really cool.”
What are your favorite KAT competitive moments during his training with you?
Mazarei: “Anything he does, I’ll give him many challenges. We’ve been working together since he was 19, so it’s almost 10 years now. If he doesn’t get it the first time, he’s going to get it. If it takes us hours, he’ll still do it. In his third season, I remember we had a multi-task cone, switch-of-hand drill. He had to do a couple of moves with a crossover, through-the-legs and behind-the-back. He couldn’t get it the first couple of rounds. Some pros and good ballhandlers couldn’t get it for weeks. But I had a feeling that he wouldn’t give up. After 30 minutes of constantly going at, he got it. That sequence and event that day showed me that this dude is relentless.”
How did his off-season work last summer compare to previous ones given the dynamic with his injury and Rudy Gobert’s first year in Minnesota?
Mazarei: “He saw ANT last summer with Team USA and how he started to blossom. Karl would always tell me during last year’s season when he was injured, ‘This is a blessing in disguise, Matt.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘This is for ANT. This happened for a reason.’ I said, ‘Dude, you may be right.’ He would tell me multiple times throughout the year that ‘It’s okay that I’m injured and that ANT is becoming the man.’ It was really cool to hear that. So many players have ego. For him to say that, he was really sincere and genuine. I said, ‘You guys deserve a championship when it’s all said and done.’ This past summer, KAT would be like, ‘Did you see ANT?’ (laughs). I was like, ‘Yeah bro, he’s freaking ANT Man.’ He got super excited. Then KAT playing with the DR [Dominican Republic] and playing for his homeland and mom really inspired him.”
Even for players that come from a good place, with how competitive they are, they might feel tension with a pecking order. Why do you think KAT and ANT have embraced playing off each other and supporting the other with leading the team?
Mazarei: “They’re both really good people. You can tell with their hearts and their eyes. You can judge character by seeing someone’s eyes. They have very, very genuine good souls. I’ve never seen a different look. I feel like they fully understand what is at stake. They fully understand the magnitude of what’s at hand. Everyone has bought in. The moves that Tim Connelly has done is incredible. He’s formed an absolute family. It’s really cool.”
Beyond just needing more time together, what feedback did you give KAT that could help foster better chemistry with Gobert in year two?
Mazarei: “With every drill, I really tried to emphasize options. Some of his options were going to be lob passes to Rudy. Karl has had all of this in his bag. The dude has been a really good passer. I got on him about having more efficient passing. So we would do targeted passing out of the post or out of the high-low action and flashing action since he’s playing more of a stretch 4. This year, he has become a lot more efficient with his skip passing and over-the-head passing. He was more targeted on it. That’s what we really emphasized on with more efficiency. But my main thing to him was that he needed to be more efficient in everything. He’s not going to get as many shots because obviously everybody needs more touches. With Jaden [McDaniels] coming into fruition with his skill level, there needed to be sacrifice. KAT fully understood his sacrifice was going to take place by being more efficient. That’s what occurred.”
"In the past, KAT would know where to pass to. But he used to play baseball in the past, so I gave him the analogy, ‘When you’re throwing a baseball, you’re really on point. You need to end your passing on your follow through like you’re holding a baseball and staring down.’ He said, ‘Absolutely.’ I just mentioned that one time, and he tweaked it right away. That was around mid-June. He’s not getting as many turnovers now. That’s big. He would have games with no turnovers and then games with seven. He needed to clean that department up. Fewer turnovers mean more opportunities for everyone and more possessions. It’s huge. It’s big time. He cleaned that up. Year in and year out, I would tell him, ‘You need to stop fouling people. It’s taking you out of the game and those are minutes that you’re such an efficient player that it’s only going to be detrimental.’ The things that we care about are his plus-minus, his efficiency and what’s helping the team. That shows what he’s about in real life and off the court. He’s such a genuine, generous and caring guy.”
What specific drills did KAT do to make his passing more efficient?
Mazarei: “Multi-tasking cone drills, switching hands and then making the pass. We had numbered them one through six in different areas. He had a quick reaction to where I would say, ‘Pass to No. 3 or No. 4.’ He would have to react really fast and then pinpoint his pass. He did a lot better with vision and seeing stuff a lot earlier instead of wasted looks. A lot of players will catch the ball and then look at the floor. Something that Jokic and other good-passing bigs with Vlade [Divac] and [Arvydas} Sabonis do is they’re always using their peripherals even before the ball is in the air and they catch it. They’re looking over their shoulders. We got really detailed with some intricacies involved there. It’s been helping a lot.”
What drills did KAT do to reduce his fouling?
Mazarei: “Just simple tinkers; common-sense tinkers that a lot of players will bypass it. You have to keep those details and keep it in their ear. It really, really is helpful. Not going for every single block possible. Not always swiping at the ball. Not falling for everything. And covering the foundational back-to-rim and keeping his opponents in front. I think his defense on everything this year has skyrocketed. Obviously with the addition of Rudy and Jaden blossoming and everyone locked in, it’s been really cool to see. He’s always had the capability. But now the difference is the roster. The roster is awesome.”
When you worked with KAT during his injury, how did you see him manage the absence and the rehab? [Towns missed 18 games at the end of the 2023-24 season after tearing a lateral meniscus in his left knee].
Mazarei: “We just did maintenance. He had his guys in Minnesota and the coaches. During the season, they are all mostly with him. They were doing a lot of drills with him during his last week before he got back into it. Before then, he was doing maintenance work and shooting form until he was ready to go full steam ahead. He worked his ass off. It was incredible with the timeline, and how he was able to come back. He put in extra time and extra work. He made sure that was okay. He was cerebral about the entire situation. He didn’t want to come back too early. Bur he also didn’t want to prolong it because of what was at stake. Everything worked out. He was sweating his ass off. He would Facetime me and say, ‘Hey man, I feel good. I think we’re ahead of schedule.’ That was really cool.”
KAT has said he’s the best shooting big man of all time. What’s your take?
Mazarei: “I always tell him that his goal is to have a 20-year career. I’m being a realist. If he stays healthy and keeps up his efficiency rate, he can do it. His game isn’t flash and athleticism. So he can last a long time. He really takes care of his body. When it’s all said and done, absolutely. But right now, I still have Dirk [Nowitzki] over him (laughs). I’m not going to give it to him in year nine. I will year 11 if he wins another one [3-point contest]. We’re competitive. I’m never going to tell him, ‘Yeah man, you’re the GOAT!’ Not yet, bro. (laughs). If he wins one more 3-point contest and then leads the league in 3-point percentage, which I think he can very well do, then I will. That would be incredible. And 50-40-90, too. Year 11 is our goal.”
What have you thought about the criticism KAT received earlier in his career that he’s a ‘stat stuffer?’
Mazarei: “If he’s just a ‘stat-stuffer,’ then why is he so efficient? (laughs). That’s just from a lot of people that haven’t played the game, and really have their own opinion. It’s kind of crazy that he has a lot of labels. I feel like he’s finally putting a lot of these labels to rest. Our goal is to continue it the rest of his career. He’s getting knocked on for so many things. They’re nitpicking. There’s a lot of nitpickers that try to tarnish anything that they can.”
Through your window, what do you think are the things KAT has done to disprove that?
Mazarei: “He’s playing winning basketball. That’s what he’s clearly doing. He’s sacrificing. You can see how much his defensive rating and his efficiency have jumped. He’s fully bought in. He’s always bought it. But now it’s truly obtainable. It’s really cool to see. It’s phenomenal for him with him buying in and realizing the magnitude of this. Let him do what he’s doing. Let the team keep doing what they’re doing. There’s going to be a parade in Minneapolis.”
What’s your expectations for the rest of KAT’s playoff run?
Mazarei: “If ANT is not having that inferno night, Karl has got to be that backbone and keep everything intact, which he’s fully capable of doing. He just has to keep his efficiency up and his leadership up. He’s like the big-ass bouncer. If anything is going on at a gala or a crazy party, he’s taking care of everything. He’s the guy. He’s ready.”
Mark Medina is an NBA insider with Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.