Throughout the course of the previous two seasons, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch went out of his way, whenever possible, to praise the sacrifice Karl-Anthony Towns made for Minnesota upon the team’s acquisition of Rudy Gobert.

Basketball observers see the production Towns is posting on a nightly basis this season for the Knicks. He’s 14th in the NBA in scoring (24.8 points per game). He’s first in rebounding (13.9). He’s shooting 53 percent from the field and 44 percent from deep. Everything looks easy for him.

It was a similar story for much of his time in Minnesota, particularly during Finch’s first season and a half. Towns powered the Wolves to the NBA’s best offensive rating over the final three-plus months of the 2021-22 campaign.

There is no center who matches up well with Towns defensively. Finch said the Wolves’ coaching staff used to call Towns at the five a “cheat code.”

“It’s just a cheat code for great offense,” Finch said. “His ability to score at all levels and distort the floor and all that kind of stuff. It’s definitely, definitely, definitely a driver of great offense.”

The trade for Gobert was meant to make Minnesota’s defense and rebounding sturdier. It did just that, and the move manifested in a run to the Western Conference Finals in the spring.

The trade worked.

But it also made Towns’ life more difficult. There was less spacing for him to operate within offensively. His matchups were far less advantageous. He was no longer in position to accumulate gaudy rebounding totals.

Sacrifices were made that aren’t often required of All-NBA players. But Towns made them. And he did so with far fewer complaints than many of his teammates delivered early in Gobert’s initial campaign. Even as the team, and Towns, looked worse for it.

“Forever grateful for that (sacrifice),” Finch said. “Not many players of his caliber are going to do it with the willingness that he did and the effectiveness that he did.”

Because not many players of his caliber are Karl-Anthony Towns. Naz Reid said Thursday will be “super emotional” for Towns, but added he’ll “be right there with him.” The two have possessed a New Jersey-area connection since long before either laced ‘em up in the NBA, and the relationship only grew in Minnesota.

“He’s a guy who taught me the ropes and kind of helped me get to the (position) I’m in today,” Reid said.

From a basketball perspective, yes. But also on a personal level. Reid described Towns as “a good guy off the court. He’s a guy you want to be around.” That was the popular sentiment this week among former teammates and coaches. Finch said it’s a “pleasure” to coach guys like Towns, who are so open to coaching and so glad to be in the gym each day with his teammates. Towns the person is what Conley enjoyed most about his time with the big man.

“The energy he brought every day, just playful sometimes, sometimes it’s super smart, witty, whatever it may be, being funny. Just being himself. He wasn’t trying to be anybody else but himself,” Conley said. “You respect that about him, comes in every day, and does that and something that you get used to, and when they leave, it’s like, dang, you miss those moments you see every day in practice.”

And even away from it. Gobert was welcomed by Towns from the moment he stepped foot in Minnesota. Frankly, that was true of every newcomer ever acquired by the Timberwolves. Towns was incredibly close with Ryan Saunders. But there was no bitterness on his end toward Finch when a coaching swap was made mid season in 2021. The opposite is true. He embraced Finch and made him, too, feel welcomed and appreciated.

There would be no personal agendas from Towns’ end. Not ever. If it was good for the team, it was good by him. He seemed to have two primary missions during his time in Minnesota. No. 1, to win. No. 2, to make sure everyone around him was in good spirits.

“From Day 1, always told me that whatever I need, he was always there for me. He really made it fun for me to get here into the organization,” Gobert said. “We started really connecting outside of the floor, also. And yeah, I felt like he really, truly wanted to see me happy and see me succeed.

“Obviously, that carries over to the team. When your teammates want to see you succeed, you can feel it in the locker room, you can feel it on the floor. That’s really what I felt since Day 1, and even when we went through some adversity, when we went through some growing pains as a team (in my first year), the fact that we cared about one another as people, I think that’s what allowed us to come back and be even better the next year.”

Minnesota’s locker room is a generally pleasant place to be in recent years. Players get along with one another, and when there’s an issue, it gets talked through. And when someone succeeds, all celebrate.

From the moment Anthony Edwards arrived in Minnesota as the No. 1 draft pick, Towns – the previously undoubted face of the franchise – became his biggest cheerleader.

“That really set the tone for everything since I’ve been here,” Finch said.

“He was always unselfish – I think that’s the biggest word to describe him,” Reid said. “He cared for one another, whether it was basketball, off the court, family issues, whatever the case may be, KAT was there for you. He always will be. That’s why I say he helped shape the guy I am today, because I know somebody wants to be treated how they’re treating someone else.”

That – more so than the points, rebounds and playoff appearances – will be Towns’ lasting legacy in Minnesota.