Karl-Anthony Towns honors mom on Dominican Mother’s Day
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José de Jesus Ortiz, Founder & Editor in Chief
- May 26, 2025
Karl-Anthony Towns leads Knicks, shouts out Dominicans
New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns did it all Sunday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Then he even gave a national television audience on TNT an education about Dominican culture. He used his platform after Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers to honor his late mom and her fellow Dominican moms.
A little more than five years after losing his mother Jackie to COVID 19, Towns celebrated Dominican Mother’s Day with a performance that will be remembered by Knicks fans for generations. Towns scored 20 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Knicks to a 106-100 come-from-behind victory.
Towns led both teams in scoring and rebounding (15). The son of the late Jacqueline Cruz of the Dominican Republic made television history. He became the first NBA player to mention Dominican Mother’s Day on national television.
“Shoutout to Dominicans, man, on Dominican Mother’s Day,” he said while wrapping up his postgame interview on TNT’s telecast. “Shoutout to my mom.”
Towns was born in Edison, N.J. His mom was from the Dominican Republic. His dad Karl Towns is African American. Although Karl-Anthony was raised in Piscataway, N.J., he represents the Dominican Republic in international competitions.
‘My culture’
By 16 years old, Karl-Anthony was already playing for Team Dominican Republic. He has proudly embraced his Dominican roots and given back to his mother’s beloved Caribbean island.
“It’s my culture,” Karl-Anthony Towns told Our Esquina in November. “It’s how I grew up. Being Latino, having my family from the Dominican Republic around me my whole entire childhood I really just grew in the culture. And it allowed me to experience love firsthand.
“So I’ve been very fortunate that my mother’s family has been very integral in my life and teaching me my Latino roots and the culture and teaching me what it is to truly be Dominican.”
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It wasn’t surprising to hear Towns mention Dominican Mother’s Day. He also gave his fellow Dominicans a shoutout immediately after helping the Knicks advance to the Eastern Conference Finals last week.
The Knicks dropped the first two games of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals against the Pacers. A loss in Game 3 would have been a devastating blow. Towns and the Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit in Game 3. They’ll look to even the series in Game 4.
‘Paying it forward’
Al Horford of the Boston Celtics became the first native of the Dominican to win an NBA championship ring last year. Unlike his mentor and good friend Horford, Karl-Anthony Towns wasn’t born in the Dominican.
But he identifies as Dominican. Moreover, he’s looking to become only the second player with Dominican roots to win an NBA championship. Horford is the only Dominican to have even appeared in the NBA Finals.
“I’m just kind of paying it forward for the people who set up this opportunity for me,” he said. “Al Horford, Jack Michael Martinez, Edgar Sosa, James Feldeine, all these amazing Dominicans have shown me that this dream was possible.
“To be able to have them look at me now and see that what they taught me and the time they took to raise me from a boy to a man didn’t go for nothing. I’m making it worth it. And I’m doing the best to inspire the next generation.”
There are more than 1 million people of Dominican heritage living in the New York Metro area. More than 700,000 Dominicans live in New York City’s five boroughs.
Most – if not all of them – are cheering for Towns and the Knicks.
The featured art is courtesy of Karl-Anthony Towns’ X account.
José de Jesus Ortiz
Founder & Editor in Chief
Award-winning writer José de Jesus Ortiz, a former lead sports columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has covered Major League Baseball since 1997 in Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, New York and Houston. He was the first Latino to serve as president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
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