It's fun to learn about the New York Knicks players' hobbies off the court.
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns loves to open sports trading card packs and talks about his passion for cards on his Instagram page, Big Bodega Cards.
On Thursday night, Towns sold a Yoshinobu Yamamoto rookie card on a Fantics Collect auction for a record $72,000. Yamamoto, a right-handed pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, recently won the 2025 World Series MVP for his performance against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The card is a 2024 Topps Inception MLB Logoman edition with a piece of Yamamoto's game-worn jersey included. The card is autographed by Yamamoto and was graded a Gem-Mint 10 by PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator).
Towns posted a video of him pulling the card on his YouTube page nearly two months ago.
What Towns said about the Yamamoto card
Towns will earn a $53 million salary during the 2025-26 NBA season with the Knicks, so he clearly is not in dire need of the money he profited from selling Yamamoto's rookie card.
He told the New York Post's Stefan Bondy that the New York Yankees are his favorite MLB team, despite pulling a rare Dodgers card.
“I think the world of (Yamamoto) as a player. I love watching him pitch, one of the best in the game, especially as a pitcher growing up, it’s always great when you see the best go out there and play chess with some of the best hitters in the world,” Towns said. “I’m just a Yankee fan. That’s really it. Sometimes someone will appreciate the card more than I will, and I want to make sure that’s how the story went.”
Towns posted a double-double in the Knicks' 113-111 victory against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, scoring 18 points while grabbing 14 rebounds. The five-time All-Star is averaging 21.5 points and 12.8 rebounds in 33.2 minutes per game through 14 contests.
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