The plan was to ask NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns about everything from Kobe to LeBron ... maybe even Lonzo Ball.
But then our TMZ photog saw KAT walking out of Craig's in L.A. with his insanely attractive girlfriend -- and the plan fell apart in a big way.
Karl-Anthony's girlfriend is Kawahine Andrade -- a Hawaiian fitness model with a pretty fantastic Instagram page.
Eventually, our guy managed to get out a question to KAT (and he very nicely answered) ... but listening to our guy try to maintain focus is pretty hilarious.
BTW, Karl-Anthony and Kawahine gave been dating for at least a year. Cheers to you two!