That's Karl-Anthony Towns opening up about the car crash that left him hospitalized before the NBA season ... revealing he's lucky to be alive.

The Minnesota Timberwolves star has still not revealed the exact date and location of the crash -- but opened up about the incident with reporters on Wednesday night.

KAT says he was going to visit his girlfriend, Jordyn Woods, at a photo shoot during the NBA offseason when a drunk driver slammed into him out of nowhere.

"I was 2 minutes from the shoot on a cliff ... drunk driver comes drifting fast as hell. It's 2 PM in the afternoon and ya know, it just happened. It was not a good wreck."

The NBA star says he was rushed to the hospital where he went through a battery of tests ... but was more concerned that he damaged his GF's car, which he was driving at the time of the wreck.

"The way I am ... even as how I felt, and the injuries I sustained and stuff like that, I was more worried that I messed up her car."

"That was just how my mindset always is. I just always wanna try to make sure everyone else is okay and I didn't wanna mess up her car."

He added, "I survived, I'm happy I was alive. I had to do what I had to do get monitored, tested all that stuff and she was right there with me."

Karl-Anthony went on to praise Woods as a strong woman who had made him a better man ... especially with all of the turmoil he's gone through over the past year, which included his mother and several other family members dying from COVID.