Every player has a different way of preparing themselves for the new NBA season which starts this week, and Karl-Anthony Towns is no different.

Many players credit training hard, their diet, their teammates, their coaches, or their families for helping them become better players on the court for their team and for helping them achieve their own individual goals across the season.

However, the Minnesota Timberwolves star has thanked something else entirely for helping him improve his skills for when he steps onto the hardwood at the Target Center. Towns believes a video game has helped him become a better player.

During an interview with Jonny Auping of NYMag.com, the former number one overall pick revealed Call of Duty has helped him improve and become a better basketball player, as he believes the fast reaction time and hand-eye coordination needed to play the game has improved his motor skills.

Towns said: “I think that your reaction speed when playing video games, especially at a competitive level, has a true correlation to hand-eye coordination. The ability to recognize the situation, assess the situation, and react to it in the right way, especially in a game like Call of Duty or these first-person shooters, definitely helps.”

When you take a look at his statistics from the two seasons he has played in the NBA so far, it's easy to see why the center believes Call of Duty has something to do with his improvement on the court.

During his rookie season, Towns averaged 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 blocks in 32 minutes per game. Last season, he averaged 25.1 points, 12.3 rebounds 2.7 assists and 1.3 blocks in 37 minutes per game.

Towns definitely improved his performances, but how much playing Call of Duty comes into it and not just experience at the NBA level remains to be seen. Still, if playing the video game means the Timberwolves will make the playoffs in the Western Conference for the first time since the 2003-04 season, people will believe it has had the desired effect on his performances.