The Minnesota Timberwolves lost their third straight on Monday night as the Washington Wizards rolled up 142 on them, but more concerning than another woeful defensive effort was the injury suffered by Karl-Anthony Towns in the third quarter.
Towns fell to the floor in agony with a non-contact injury, immediately grabbing for his right calf and had to be helped to the locker room by Rudy Gobert and the training staff. The All-Star big man was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the game with a calf strain, with further testing still to come to determine the severity of the injury. On Tuesday, we learned that severity as it was reported that Towns had at least avoided a significant injury with no damage to his achilles, which was a concern given how the injury looked, but will still miss 4-6 weeks with a calf strain.
Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns is expected to miss several weeks with his calf strain, sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski. Great news: Tests showed no structural damage to Towns’ Achilles.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 29, 2022
Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star forward Karl-Anthony Towns is expected to miss four-to-six weeks with a right calf strain, sources tell ESPN. Towns underwent imaging on Tuesday and the expectation exists for a full recovery and return sometime in January.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 29, 2022
Overall it’s fairly good news, considering when he went to the floor the immediate thought was that he might have suffered a catastrophic injury that could cost him the season. Still, for a Timberwolves team that’s struggled to establish a rhythm and was still trying to figure out how to make their new big man pairing work, this is a considerable setback in getting Towns and Gobert on the same page. With Towns out, the next month-plus figures to shift responsibilities, not only for Gobert but others like Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell, who all figure to shoulder a larger load on the offensive end.