Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns is expected to be named NBA Rookie of the Year on Monday, Minneapolis television station KARE reported Sunday.
It would be the second straight year that a member of the Timberwolves won the award, with Andrew Wiggins being named the Rookie of the year last season.
The Timberwolves are expected to make the official announcement at an 11 a.m. news conference at the Target Center on Monday.
Towns, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft. He started all 82 regular-season games for the Timberwolves, averaging 18.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks while making 64.3 percent of his field-goal attempts. He averaged eight more points and 3.7 more rebounds than he did during his only season at the University of Kentucky.
He was named Western Conference rookie of the month in all six months the award was handed out. The Timberwolves finished with a 29-53 record and failed to reach the playoffs.
Towns Tweeted a simply message Sunday: “#blessed.”
Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Towns’ former teammate at Kentucky, Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns, were among the other candidates for the award.