The Minnesota Timberwolves and their fans are breathing a collective sigh of relief right now.
T-Wolves star center and franchise player, Karl-Anthony Towns, sustained a dislocated left wrist during the team’s 116-111 win over the Utah Jazz on Saturday. According to the team, however, the injury will not require surgery, which is surely a relief to all in the organization.
The cause for concern over this most recent wrist issue stems from the major left wrist injury that forced the Kentucky product to miss 29 games and go under the knife to fix the problem just last year. This new injury, while sustained on KAT’s same left hand, is apparently to a whole different part of the wrist, which is why he will not miss significant time or require surgery, sources told ESPN.
The team will be evaluating their star on a weekly basis moving forward, though there is optimism in the franchise that this will be nothing but a short-term absence for the two-time NBA All-Star, sources said.
Towns went down awkwardly late in the game against the Jazz, seeming to land hard on his left hand. He went right to the locker room after the fall, though he did return late in the game in what he admitted after the game to be a decoy role.
The 25-year-old has been crucial to Minnesota’s early success, averaging 19.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 3.0 blocks, and 1.0 steal per game on a shooting line of 41/33/100 as he led his squad to two straight wins to begin this 2020-2021 campaign.
No doubt due in large part due to his absence, the T-Wolves lost by 36 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday and are now big +316 odds (22Bet) underdogs for their matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday. Minnesota is not an underdog that should be trusted while their best player is sidelined, so steer clear of that one.
“He’s been really good for us, so we need other guys to fill those roles,” head coach Ryan Saunders said over the weekend. “You can’t replace Karl-Anthony Towns with one individual, you do that with a team effort and same thing we always say when it comes to guarding great players, do everything as a team, and that’s what this group has been doing.”
Second-year pro Naz Reid started in Towns’ place against the Lakers and put up 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists in 28 minutes. Reid is expected to soak up most of KAT’s minutes while the superstar is out, so if he’s available on the waiver wire in your fantasy league, snap him up for what should be a meaningful stretch of play for the youngster over the next week or two.
