Karl-Anthony Towns shares heartfelt tribute to girlfriend Jordyn Woods' family for dealing with close friend's death

Karl-Anthony Towns' absence against the Golden State Warriors and the mysterious nature of the same had NBA fans curious and worried. This was particularly so after his girlfriend Jordyn Woods had posted "F**k Cancer" following Towns' absence.

It was later revealed that Towns had taken a leave of absence from the team to be with his girlfriend and family following the death of a close friend of Woods, Sarah Holtzman, to breast cancer.

The center has since returned to action for the Knicks and, after a 23-point outing against the Clippers, took the moment to speak about Holtzman's death. He mentioned that it had been bothering his family and thanked the people who stepped up to support him during a tough time for him and his close circle.

"Obviously it has been a very tough week ... Meant a lot to have the love of my family and my girl's family through this hard time, we were all very close with this woman. For me, it's a little tougher, having to hold open wounds up to be there for her kids that lost their mother.

"I know how that is. I've been having to open up my old wounds to support them and help them through this process. It's a lot," revealed Karl-Anthony Towns.

Towns, who has had the support of the fans and his team through the process, has responded in a very mature way to a tough situation, and his professionalism has been lauded.

The former Wolves center came into the league with an entirely different narrative around him. He has had to overcome some extremely tough situations, including the death of his own mother, while evolving into this version before our own eyes.

Draymond Green had insinuated that Karl-Anthony Towns missed the game because Jimmy Butler "came to town"

While Karl-Anthony Towns was attending to Jordyn Woods and his close circle, Draymond Green suggested that KAT had missed the game to avoid confronting former teammate Jimmy Butler.

Although Draymond Green did backtrack on his take, the damage was already done, and he is likely to meet with the ire of Knicks fans when he gets to Madison Square Garden in the future.

Karl-Anthony Towns' maturity in not retorting to the statement is also impressive under the circumstances and demonstrates how much he has grown from the days of his "catfights" with Joel Embiid.