Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns has suffered a meniscus injury in his left knee and is out indefinitely, according to league sources per The Athletic.
“Towns, who was an All-Star last month, has been gathering further opinions on the injury over the past 24 hours, the sources said. He is not with the team to start its six-game road trip as he continues looking into treatment options to determine the best course of action for his injury,” The Athletic reports.
28-year-old Towns had already been ruled out for the Minnesota’s Thursday night game against the Indiana before the news broke.
Though it wasn’t widely known he was dealing with such a serious injury.
If the big man does undergo surgery, it is likely he will sidelined for an extended period.
The news comes as a big blow for the first-seeded Timberwolves, as KAT is their second-best scorer behind Anthony Edwards.
The unit of Towns, Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley and Jaden McDaniels is one of just five units that has played at least 600 minutes together this season.
That particular unit ranks second in net rating rating among lineups, with Denver being first.
Kyle Anderson would seem like the logical choice to replace Towns in the starting lineup, meaning the T-Wolves defense would only be bolstered.
Naz Reid will likely also need to play a bigger role on defense in Towns’ absence.
Many NBA fans on X are taking the news hard and have already wrote Minnesota off as serious playoffs contenders.
One fan exclaimed, “Timberwolves can’t have nothing nice”.
While another simply said, “it’s over”.
The injury comes at a less than ideal time for the Wolves, who are heading into a tough stretch of games, that includes a six-game away stint.
The franchise also matches up against the Nuggets two times before the end of the month. Yikes.