It is astonishing, in retrospect, but a Google search away from verification.

Eight years ago, a survey of NBA general managers found that nearly half of the teams in the league would have chosen to start their franchise with Karl-Anthony Towns if they could sign any player in the league, opting for the Timberwolves center over Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kawhi Leonard. The next season, Towns was the leading vote-getter again, ahead of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic.

The player once perceived to have more potential than any other in the world is the son of a Monmouth standout — once a top-five NCAA rebounder, ahead of David Robinson — turned high school coach. 

Towns stood 6-foot-3 in fifth grade, and added another seven inches by high school. He wouldn’t leave workouts until he made 1,000 jumpers. He studied tape of opponents at his Piscataway, N.J., home, where he slept on a pillowcase decorated with NBA jerseys and awoke to walls he tattooed with inspirational quotes from iconic athletes (Willie Mays, Kobe Bryant, Venus Williams).