The Knicks’ dream of becoming an NBA champion is getting closer for the first time in 27 years, and New York is excited about it.
On the court, thanks to one of the strongest teams in recent history, they are well on their way to competing to face the San Antonio Spurs in the finals.
For star player Karl-Anthony Towns, 30, this marks a dramatic shift in his life over the past six years, not just in the game but in his personal life.
In 2020, Towns felt like his world was falling apart. A year ago, his car was rear-ended by a semi-truck, and he was admitted to the hospital with a “5% chance of making it out alive.”
In April of the following year, he lost his mother suddenly at just 58 years old due to complications related to COVID-19. To top it all off, that summer he was hit by a drunk driver in Los Angeles and hospitalized.
Each time, the Edison, New Jersey-born center forward was comforted through his physical and emotional pain by his now engaged Jordyn Woods, 28. He was a Los Angeles model and influencer who was first introduced three years ago.
As the pandemic continues and the world is coming to an end, the two of them are grieving together. Towns mourned his mother, Jacqueline Cruz, and Woods mourned his father, the late sound engineer John Woods. He passed away suddenly in 2017 at the age of 61, just weeks after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.
“He lost his mother and she lost her father. It definitely strengthened their bond,” said a source close to the couple, who took solace in their shared sense of loss.
The two first dated in May 2020, and Towns played the first nine seasons of his career with the Minnesota Timberwolves before joining the Knicks in October 2024.
In September 2020, she confirmed their relationship by posting, “I found you and then I found you,” beneath a photo of her cuddling with the basketball star, both of them wearing Versace swimsuits.
“The right person is going to get a lot out of you,” Woods told Extra that same month. “Obviously, we both lost our parents at a young age, so it was a very natural relationship.”
Since then, Woods has been a courtside fixture, a strong and steady presence in the 7-foot Towns’ life. She and other New York basketball fans have been rooting for the team (currently including Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby in the regular starting lineup) to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
“She’s glowing. She’s so excited, but at the same time nervous because it’s so hard to put everything together,” a source close to the couple told Page Six about the finals and the final stages of wedding preparations.
The proposal came after the Knicks’ impressive 126-124 victory over the Cavaliers at MSG on Christmas Day 2025. Towns traded his No. 32 jersey for a tuxedo, got down on one knee, and presented Woods, clad in all white, with a ring with a long, slender emerald-cut diamond estimated at more than 10 carats in a private corner of Overstory Bar, a rooftop in the Financial District overlooking the city.
She announced the news on her Instagram page with the caption “Merry Christmas.”
Throughout the regular season, Woods established herself as a courtside fashion lynchpin, supporting MVP with custom designs inspired by “Towns,” and also giving her 1.7 million TikTok fans a first look at her look in a Get Ready With Me video.
Woods himself is no stranger to the spotlight. She grew up in Oak Park, California, where her father worked on the television show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. This has made her family friends with big-name celebrities like Will, Jada Pinkett, Jaden and Willow Smith.
Jaden then introduced Woods to Kylie Jenner the summer before high school, and the two became close friends. As a result, Woods became a frequent guest on the reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians and subsequent Friends spin-off Life of Kylie.
However, things quickly cooled down between Woods and Jenner’s friends in 2019 over another basketball player. Woods admitted that he had an intimate encounter with notorious NBA love cheater Tristan Thompson. Tristan Thompson is the baby daddy of Kylie’s two children with her half-sister Khloé Kardashian.
Following this revelation, Woods was dramatically ousted from Kar-Jenner’s inner circle. That drama, the experience of appearing on two major TV shows, and the public criticism that came with it, quickly forced her to develop a thick skin, a source close to the couple told Page Six.
“[The NBA Finals]are nothing compared to being with the Kardashians, literally nothing!” the source joked.
Towns has faced a lot of criticism throughout his time in the NBA, but the current excitement surrounding the Knicks is certainly welcome.
“You have to adapt to the culture of New York. I’ve seen it change. The first year (Towns) played, all the comments were, ‘You’re too soft to play in New York.'” He adapted. “The positive attention he’s getting right now is something very new for him,” the source said.
“He’s usually on the other side of the conversation, and the Knicks never get this far.
“When you’re a star or a big man, there’s a lot of pressure. This is the first time he’s been praised this highly.”
In fact, Towns provided the X-factor when the Knicks fell behind by 14 points in the third quarter of Game 1 last Thursday, and his strong defense helped them come back to a 105-95 victory over the Spurs.
Afterwards, he said he felt a greater force over him: the presence of his late mother.
“I don’t know what it was, but I felt a shell and peace that was supposed to come from the woman above me,” he told Shaquille O’Neal on ESPN’s postgame show “Inside the NBA.”
“I felt good. I felt like a kid.”
In January 2021, Towns paid tribute to Woods, who stood by him and helped him through a car accident and the loss of his family.
“My woman has oppressed me more than the world knows,” he wrote on his Instagram Stories. “From losing my mom and family (one day on my birthday in Cabo), getting hit by a drunk driver in Los Angeles (FYI, it was 2 p.m.), staying with me in the hospital overnight and helping me with rehab, to this term of COVID-19, my mom has been there for me every step of the way and stayed 10 toes down.”
“My love for her knows no bounds. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the power a good woman brings to your life. Men, treat your women like queens so they can treat you like kings.”
Woods also literally distanced himself from Towns to improve his relationship. While he was still with the Timberwolves, she flew back and forth between Hollywood and Minnesota to spend time together.
Their relationship went to the next level after he was traded to the Knicks in 2024, with both moving to the Big Apple full-time.
She also traded in her signature Minnesota gear for a custom “KAT” jacket, which quickly became a staple at the Knicks’ home stadium, Madison Square Garden.
But there was potential for drama on the Knicks’ famous Celebrity Row. The area was already staked out after Jenner, a former friend, started dating Timothée Chalamet, a die-hard Knicks fan, in 2023 and they started going to games together.
Although nothing has been said publicly about rekindling their relationship, they have been photographed together numerous times, leading the public to conclude that they have broken up.
“They may have gotten sober again,” a source close to Woods and Towns told Page Six.
Whether Jenner and Chalamet will attend the wedding is another matter, but those close to Woods and Towns say it doesn’t matter, they have each other and that’s what matters.
“She found the right person and they couldn’t be happier,” the source said.
