Karl-Anthony Towns wins the 2023-2024 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award

Andscape has learned that Minnesota Timberwolves center/forward Karl-Anthony Towns has won the 2023-2024 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award.

The NBA selection committee chosen Towns “due to his commitment to social justice and support of Abdul-Jabbar and the league’s decades-old values ​​of equality, respect and inclusion,” an NBA source said. Other finalists included Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Lindy Waters III and LA Clippers guard Russell Westbrook.

Helping Towns’ candidacy was because he was a supporter of voting rights. The four-time NBA All-Star played a key role in passing Minnesota’s Voting Restoration Act (HF28), bipartisan laws that restored the voting rights of over 55,000 formerly incarcerated people in March 2023. Towns is an executive producer and investor in the documentary, a brief film that explores how digital transformation has enabled change in the complex legal justice system. He also provided funding for Ava DuVernay’s film and is a board member of the National Basketball Coalition for Social Justice.

Towns is predicted to receive the award before Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Denver Nuggets on Friday in Minneapolis.