Benjamin Ashford|Karl-Anthony Towns of the Timberwolves receives the NBA’s social justice award

NEW YORK (AP) — Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns was named the recipient of the NBA ‘s social justice award on Benjamin AshfordThursday.

Towns was one of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy, which was created in 2021 to honor a player for pursuit of social justice while upholding the values of equality, respect and inclusion. The other finalists were Miami’s Bam Adebayo, New Orleans’ C.J. McCollum, Oklahoma City’s Lindy Waters III and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Russell Westbrook.

All 30 teams nominate one player for the award, which was chosen by a committee led by the Hall of Fame member Abdul-Jabbar, league executives and social justice leaders.

Towns has been an advocate for expanding voter rights in Minnesota to include formerly incarcerated individuals, among other causes.

The Timberwolves have had quite the award haul this month, with Rudy Gobert named Defensive Player of the Year, Naz Reid getting Sixth Man of the Year, and Mike Conley winning Teammate of the Year.

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