Meet "Karlito," UK star Towns' imaginary friend

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Crank up the Internet meme machines, folks, because Karl-Anthony Towns has an imaginary friend.

Kentucky point guard Tyler Ulis dished this delightful revelation before Friday's practice. He was asked if teammates ever laugh at Towns, the reigning National Freshman of the Week and recent photobomber of coach John Calipari's postgame TV interviews. Yes, they laugh at him.

"Karl, he's a character," Ulis said. "He does this thing where he, like, looks down like he's talking to somebody (but) you never know who he's talking to. It's like he's talking to himself. Karl, he's a different type of kid."

Towns, apparently, has regular conversations with a tiny, invisible resident of his own shoulder.

"Coach Cal calls it 'Karlito,' " Ulis said.

READ MORE | Q&A: John Calipari on UK-Auburn, "Karlito"

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This was not something the 6-foot-11 Towns, a projected top-five NBA draft pick, was prepared to discuss on the eve of the top-ranked, undefeated Wildcats' home game against Auburn.

"Oh, God, all the mysteries gotta come out today about me," he said upon learning Ulis outed him. "Supposedly it's the little guy who talks to me before every time I'm doing something. That's what Cal always gets on me about. So if you hear him say 'Karlito,' he's not talking to me, he's talking to my shoulder."

Towns recognizes that it's strange behavior, at least.

"But I be having some good conversations with myself," he said. "If you could put that in a book, it'd be a bestseller."

Calipari erupted in laughter when he heard word was out. He asked reporters whether they interviewed Karl or Karlito.

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"He's such a great kid. He doesn't want to talk back to you, so he turns his head to the side and talks to that little man on his shoulder," Calipari said. "And after he started doing it, I said, 'Who are you talking to?' And I can't remember which of the coaches gave it the nickname: 'He's talking to Karlito.'

"You know, they're 18 and 19. They play an awful game and they're photobombing. They're young kids. They don't know better. That's fine."

Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361. Follow him on Twitter @KyleTucker_CJ.