Karl-Anthony Towns Shows Tremendous Class With Support For 76ers Coach Nick Nurse

Although the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers are currently competing for a spot in the Eastern Conference finals, Karl-Anthony Towns understands that certain things are bigger than sports.

76ers coach Nick Nurse's brother, Steve, died unexpectedly this week at the age of 62. The veteran coach briefly left the team before returning for Game 2 and Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"I'm here coaching and my brother would expect me to be. He was a huge fan," Nurse told reporters. "He wants us to go play, he wants us to play hard, so that's what we're going to try to do tonight."

After the Knicks took a commanding 3-0 series lead on Friday night, Towns spoke to the media. The All-Star center made sure to offer his condolences to the Nurse family.

"My family wanted to give love and condolences to Nick Nurse's brother and his family....I haven't been able to talk to him personally, but I know it's real tough," Towns said. "I don't know what he's going through, but in a similar fashion I know how it is to have to show up to work and to have a lot of pressure on you to do something special when you're kind of not fully there."

NBA fans respond to KAT's classy gesture.

Unsurprisingly, Towns received a lot of love for his heartfelt comments about Nurse.

"KAT has always been a classy guy with things like this," one fan replied. "He's gone through a lot of loss personally and he gets it, respect."

"Towns is a great person and easy to root for," a second fan wrote.

"KAT truly deserves a chip, great person and is easy to root for," another fan said.

While fans obviously appreciate Towns' personality off the hardwood, he's also been quite impactful against the 76ers. He's averaging 15.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game in the second round of the playoffs.

The Knicks and 76ers will resume their series on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 12:40 PM.