Karl-Anthony Towns not close to returning, likely still out a ‘multitude of weeks’
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Towns isn’t close, so more Naz Reid for the Timberwolves.
It’s been ten games and 22 days since Karl-Anthony Towns went down with a right calf strain and Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch says it’ll still be a number of weeks before the star big man is back in action.
“I wouldn’t say he’s close at all, to be honest,” Finch said Tuesday on KFAN radio. “I would say we’re definitely a multitude of weeks out. We’re going to have a re-evaluation coming up here at some point in the near future. He did get on the floor [Monday]. I saw him taking some shots, just doing some super light work, which is a great sign.”
Towns suffered the right calf strain Nov. 28 against the Wizards. Minnesota was 10-11 with Towns in the lineup, and they’ve gone 6-4 without him. But the mini surge has also featured Tauren Prince and Jordan McLaughlin out with injuries, along with three straight absences from Rudy Gobert as he recovers from a sprained ankle.
Why more success when the big guys are out of the lineup?
“Those guys are just hard offensive matchups,” Finch said when asked about Minnesota playing better with Gobert sidelined. “We have a lot of experience with that, so I think that’s why we look comfortable right now.”
Finch likened the lineup with Naz Reid in for Towns and Gobert out injured to last year’s team that played Towns at center. Reid has had that role the past three games and he went for 28 points Friday against the Thunder and 27 points with 13 rebounds Monday night. In between he had Minnesota’s first 10 points Sunday against Chicago before tightness in his neck and back knocked him out of the game.
“He’s had an unbelievable season for us in a lot of ways. He’s had a role that’s kept changing,” Finch said of Reid. “He’s had to be a spot starter and now he’s starting consistently, he’s played backup minutes, he hasn’t played at all some nights. Whatever we’ve asked him to do he’s gone in and really done it at a high level.”
The surge also coincides with Anthony Edwards being the lead ball-handler, a de facto Luka Doncic role where he dictates what happens on the offensive end. The result has been a phenomenal three-game stretch where Edwards is averaging 27.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and 9 assists.
All eyes will be on the production when Gobert returns to the lineup, and even more so when Minnesota is fully healthy again and Towns and Gobert are back in the starting lineup. What will Reid’s role be then and will Edwards still be playing the hybrid Luka role?
Minnesota is 16-15 and faces Doncic and the Mavericks again Wednesday night at Target Center.