On November 6, 2015, the Call of Duty franchise duly released Black Ops III, the 12th Call of Duty game and the third installment in the Black Ops series. Games like COD: Ghosts and COD: Infinite Warfare have been released since then, but a fourth Black Ops game was rumored for a while. It's been nearly three years now, but Treyarch and Activision are getting set to release Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in October of 2018.
Fans around the world are getting hyped for the new game in the Black Ops series, which featured an intriguing storyline following a CIA operative named Alex Mason in the first couple of games as well as fascinating zombies and online mode. Among the large fanbase are some of the world's most talented and popular athletes, like Minnesota Timberwolves star center Karl-Anthony Towns.
Towns and his Wolves had an incredible 2017-18 season, capped off by the end of their 13-year playoff drought. Towns, who also became an All-Star for the first time in his career, led the way for his Wolves with 21.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.4 blocks per game. His team suffered a first-round playoff exit, however, so with the extra time he has off, he's not only working on improving his on-court game but his off-court game as well in the video game department.
Towns sat down for an exclusive interview with ClutchPoints prior to a live stream with gamer LEGIQN, who has just under 130,000 followers at the Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Beta release this past weekend to talk Call of Duty, video games, his All-NBA video game players, the Timberwolves, LeBron James, and much more.
TA: For those who don't know, how big of a gamer are you?
KAT: I'm a pretty big gamer. I've been playing video games my whole life and even to this day, if I'm not playing basketball, I'm pretty much at the house playing video games. Even when we're on the road, it's always a video game thing for me whenever I'm not playing basketball or practice or a shootaround or whatever. I'm a big gamer, I've always been this way. I probably hear more complaints about me playing too much video games than not playing video games.
TA: Is that what you do most of the time off the court?
KAT: It's all video games. It's a video game thing for me. I always play.
TA: Who do you play the most with?
KAT: I probably play the most actually with [my Timberwolves teammate] Andrew Wiggins, most likely. During the season we're always together, we know each other's schedules because we're on the same schedule and he's a huge gamer like myself. We have a lot of fun playing video games with each other.
TA: What can you tell us about the Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Beta?
KAT: It's gonna be just fun playing with my good man over here in LEGIQN and showing the improvement already from the reveal event to the Beta. I was just talking to Call of Duty, just to see how they've improved the game already to this point speaks volumes to them listening to their community.
TA: Is there a go-to specialist or a class that you prefer in the new Call of Duty game?
KAT: For me, I'm gonna say that I've been using a lot of everything, but I've actually really enjoyed using Prophet. Prophet is a specialist that has a tempest and he's able to shock people with his special ability and has a seeker shock mine that goes out. It's more of like an RC-XD that shocks people. It gives me a good chance to finish the job myself.
TA: What makes this one of your favorite games in the Call of Duty franchise?
KAT: I think what makes Call of Duty the world's choice of game is because of how high paced it is with action that's nonstop. It's something that's so easy to pick up and have a lot of fun with. It has that adrenaline pumped through it.
TA: If you could play against anyone in the world, who would it be?
KAT: I don't know. I've always had a lot of fun just playing with my friends and teammates. I've had amazing nights playing Call of Duty with my friend and just really talking trash to each other and having that kind of time remembering when this happened or that happened. I wouldn't say I want to play with anyone else other than my boys.
TA: A lot of NBA guys play video games and are huge gamers nowadays. If you had to choose, give me your All-NBA video game starting 5?
KAT: HA. I'm gonna say me, Andrew Wiggins, Devin Booker, Hassan Whiteside, and… I'm gonna give the last spot up to De'Aaron Fox.
TA: Really?
KAT: I think De'Aaron Fox or Josh Hart. I played with De'Aaron at the Call of Duty reveal event. If we're talking Call of Duty, it's De'Aaron Fox.
TA: Okay, solid five. We know someone like Gordon Hayward is a big gamer as well. Where is he in the conversation?
KAT: Oh he's awesome, but if we're talking Call of Duty, I'm sticking with me, Book, Andrew, Hassan, and De'Aaron.
TA: Who's the best among you five?
KAT: I'm gonna say me! I'll definitely say that.
TA: Let's shift over to the NBA now. It's been a wild offseason, especially if you're in the Western Conference. What do you make of the competition the West is going to have this year with all the moves?
KAT: It's gonna be an intriguing season. We have so much talent like that already in the West, it's gonna be a lot of fun for the fans and for the players as well to get to compete against the best of the best night in and night out. It makes the job that much more fun.
TA: LeBron James was probably a bit of a shock for some people. What did you think about his decision to come to the Los Angeles Lakers?
KAT: Noo. It wasn't for me. *with a laugh*
TA: Oh, you saw it coming?
KAT: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did.
TA: What do you think about the move?
KAT: It's great for the city of Los Angeles. For them to have one of the best players of all time on their team, it obviously draws a lot of excitement for good reason. He's a proven champion, proven player, one of the best of his generation and has the ability to really do something special over there in LA.
TA: Is it safe to say that DeMarcus Cousins' move to the Golden State Warriors was more surprising?
KAT: Absolutely. That… That came out of left field. I didn't expect that. It was definitely something that caught me off guard. When you have such a great team like that and then they add another great player like that, it speaks volumes obviously to them as an organization and as a team to get a player like that.
TA: Your good friend Devin Booker got his extension this summer. What are your thoughts on that? I know you guys are ultra-competitive.
KAT: I'm happy for him. He deserves it. He's been able to bring Phoenix [something] that I don't think they've had in a long time and he's one of the best young players in the NBA; but not only that, he's already one of the best players in the entire NBA, regardless of age. He deserves every single penny that he was just offered. He's an amazing guy, amazing person, he's going to give Phoenix a lot of great memories, and they're ecstatic that they have Devin Booker on their squad.
TA: Did the NBA Finals play out the way you expected them to?
KAT: You never know. It's basketball. You never know. Game 1 seemed to be in the Cavaliers' hands, and we know how that narrative goes, but you never know. When you play this game of basketball, you never know what can happen. As good as the Warriors are, anyone can get beat on any given night. You only need four nights to go your way, and that's a lot of nights and still, you've got a person like LeBron who everyone has always doubted that could do this and do that. Coming back from 3-1, there's nothing you should ever expect less than the possibility of him winning a championship.
TA: What have you been working on this summer?
KAT: Just doing the same thing I do every summer. I go to the gym and I work on everything. I'm trying to become as versatile as possible, that's what my game is and my play style, so just always being able to do as much as possible and work on every single aspect of my game.
TA: Now, in some of the public eye, there’s this perception that you, Jimmy Butler, and Andrew Wiggins kind of don’t get along or don’t like each other. What’s your relationship like with each player?
KAT: We just want to win. That's the biggest thing. We just gotta come in and find ways to win every night and we try to make sure we… Like I said, it's all about winning and we just try to go out there and win.
TA: I saw that you were outspoken on Twitter the other day when Donald Trump tweeted at LeBron James. When you see the President of the United States attacking the personality of the face of the NBA and calling him dumb, especially after what he just opened, a school… What do you even say to that?
KAT: I mean… We're a brotherhood, and no one should attack one of our brothers like that, especially at that position. There's no reason that, you have a job with high regard and high priority in the country, it's just more about… This man has done something tremendous, tremendous for his hometown and for generations to come for kids around Akron, Ohio. There's no reason that he should be degraded mostly by a person of his stature. I was more offended, obviously, that he came after one of our brothers. But at the end of the day, there's no reason for any talk like that from a person of his stature. There's no reason at all for him to be like that. There's just a lot of different things that need to be said, and mostly at the end of the day, it has to be addressed. I can't watch one of my brothers, one of my colleagues, be talked to like that.
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