Jordyn Woods and Karl-Anthony Towns Talk 'Best Friend' Relationship Before Dating: '1 Year Down, Many to Go' 

Jordyn Woods and boyfriend Karl-Anthony Towns are grateful for the friendship foundation they had before dating.

The couple discussed their relationship beginnings in a video for Woods' Instagram series Regular-ish posted on Friday.

"Me and Jordyn met years ago knowing common people and just became friends," Towns, 25, explained. "And ever since then, our relationship grew where we became more than friends. I'm not saying in that way, but just best friends. And then we started having a deeper relationship."

Their relationship turned romantic over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic after they went through life-changing hardships, such as the Minnesota Timberwolves player losing seven members of his family, including his mother, Jacqueline Towns, to the virus.

"It just so happened, the COVID came and kind of brought its challenges and it kind of forced us to either pick where our relationship was going to go as friends or something more," Towns said. "And we chose the latter."

Before going official, the model, 23, admitted she referred to Towns as a "brother" despite the previous speculation about their relationship.

"Two years before, I'm like, 'No, that's like a brother to me,'" Woods said of how she used to describe their friendship, adding, "That sounds disgusting now I know."

They both laughed as Towns said, "That sounds crazy."

The NBA star added, "Literally there was never a kiss or anything. I was just best friends. We had such mutual respect for each other."

"I think it's kind of cool dating your best friend," Woods said. "We know each other. We know each other's hearts. We know each other on good days and bad days and we've been through a lot of bad days together."

She also said when it came to their relationship "timing is everything."

"I felt like God was presenting us something that we just went with," Woods added. "And it happened to be something beautiful."

Towns went on to say that although they are openly affectionate on social media, they've had bumps in the road and even considered calling it quits.

"I think we were open in our admiration for each other on Instagram, social media ... But take the Hollywood part, there's going to be trials and tribulations," he said. "There's going to be times where we're extremely mad at each other but we have to choose if we're going to put our love for each other first or we're going to put our egos first."

Towns continued, "Because of our close friendship when we got those arguments — just like every other couple — where it looked like, 'I don't know if this is going to work out or not,' it was our communication that got us out of there. It made us so much stronger and closer."

"Because of the way we became a couple, we saved ourselves so much trouble and obviously detriments," the basketball player said.

Woods and Towns celebrated their one year anniversary in May, and their future is optimistic, the model said.

"It doesn't feel that long because we have such a close bond and because we were friends before," she said. "We made it!"

"One year down, many more to go," Woods gushed.

To mark their one year anniversary of dating, the model shared a carousel of photos on Instagram from their tropical getaway vacation.

In the slideshow, Woods shows off an array of stunning scenery, as well as a room adorned with a "Happy Anniversary" banner. In another snap, Woods poses in a one-piece bathing suit with the tropical backdrop behind her.

"Pinch me, I'm dreaming… a photo dump series. Expect lots of these this week 🦜🌴," she captioned the post. Towns commented, "Love You."

Woods and Towns first revealed their relationship when they became Instagram official back in September 2020.

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During an interview with Extra that same month, Woods said that she and the NBA star have been friends "for a long time" and "connected about losing a parent at a very young age."

Towns' mother died at the age of 59 in April 2020 after a weeks-long battle with COVID-19 and Woods' father, John Woods, died in 2017 after being diagnosed with cancer.

"So, it was a very organic relationship that we'd been best friends for a while," Woods said at the time.