LOOK: Karl Anthony Towns pays tribute to mentor Kevin Garnett

Thank you for everything my brother. You know how much I’m gonna miss playing with you and just simply having you around. Congrats on having one of the greatest careers the game has ever seen. We talked. I know what I must do. I’ll take it from here.

A photo posted by Karl-Anthony Towns (@karltowns) on Sep 23, 2016 at 7:31pm PDT

NBA fans are still nostalgic about Kevin Garnett’s retirement from the league after 21 seasons, and no one took the news as hard as his protege, Karl Anthony Towns.

READ: Kevin Garnett says ‘farewell’ after 21 NBA seasons

Just minutes after the Minnesota Timberwolves legend announced that he’d be hanging his sneakers for good, the reigning rookie of the year took to Instagram to pay homage to his friend and mentor.

“Thank you for everything my brother. You know how much I’m gonna miss playing with you and just simply having you around. Congrats on having one of the greatest careers the game has ever seen,” the 20-year-old phenom wrote, along with with a photo of him and Garnett sharing a moment on the sidelines.

Aside from the heartfelt goodbye, Towns also gave the city of Minnesota more reason to be more optimistic this coming season.

“We talked. I know what I must do. I’ll take it from here,” he said on the latter part of his message.

Under Garnett’s guidance, Towns finished one of the most impressive rookie campaigns in recent memory, with averages of 18.3 points, 10.5 boards and 2 assists per contest.

Although the duo only spent one season as teammates, Garnett’s presence heavily influenced KAT’s emergence, as he displayed flashes of on-court brilliance and versatility comparable to the elder stateman’s early years.

In a Fox Sports report last December, Towns’ father, Karl Sr., said “KG is the best thing that ever happened” to his son. Khristian Ibarrola