APRIL 11: Towns is on track to return on Friday against the Hawks, according to Charania (Twitter link). He was upgraded to questionable for the game.
APRIL 10: Towns is expected to play in at least one of Minnesota’s final three regular season games this week, according to Charania (Twitter link). The Wolves will visit Denver on Wednesday night before concluding the regular season with home games vs. Atlanta on Friday and Phoenix on Sunday.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), Towns isn’t planning to play on Wednesday, but a return on Friday or Sunday is a possibility.
APRIL 9: The Timberwolves have confirmed in a press release that Towns has been cleared for full-contact 5-on-5 work and is “progressing toward his return to play.”
APRIL 8: Karl-Anthony Towns appears likely to return to the Timberwolves‘ lineup before the end of the season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Towns took part in a team scrimmage on Sunday, marking his first action since undergoing knee surgery on March 12. He has been sidelined since being diagnosed with a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee following a March 4 game.
“KAT will be back,” Wolves teammate Anthony Edwards told reporters after Sunday’s game in Los Angeles.
Charania hears that Towns is “very, very close” to playing again and will likely be on the court for at least one game this week. Minnesota will host Washington tomorrow night before traveling to Denver on Wednesday and then returning home to face Atlanta on Friday and Phoenix on Sunday.
The Wolves have been able to survive for more than a month without one of their top players and are currently tied with the Nuggets for the top spot in the Western Conference at 54-24.
Towns, who earned his fourth All-Star selection this season, is averaging 22.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 60 games while shooting 50.6% from the field and 42.3% from three-point range.
Nice. Naz needs to keep most of his minutes. Slo Mo has been effective lately too. Good problem to have.
I think the best thing to come outta this is Minnesota can now be encouraged enough to willingly put KAT on the market this summer
I was in favor of the move last offseason and the feeling has only gotten stronger after watching the last 3 weeks of Wolves basketball
This team has a legit shot at championship. Deep team. Hope they don’t trade him. Depth needed to win.
Amusing that fans of other teams who want towns are always saying what a good idea it is for Minnesota to trade him
It’s a money issue more than a player trade. Not sure your going to find too many outside fanbases jumping for joy to obtain KAT’s contract, the {potential} return will surely underwhelm you
Cap relief will be sought out mostly not future assets
I’m betting against Glen Taylor when given the chance to reach ultra deep into the pockets.
*Minnesota will be fine w/out KAT and have a brighter future.
Playoff results will likely set the parameters for MIN’s next move with KAT. If MIN wins the championship, KAT, along with everyone else, will be back. Otherwise, like any team that isn’t the champion, they have to look at why they fell short and what they’ll need to upgrade. You have to give to get, and looking at their roster and payroll, and their lack of tradable draft picks, KAT has to be at least potential trade bait.
If he’s not traded, and they move other pieces to upgrade, it will likely be because they couldn’t move KAT for enough value. 2k is 2k, and he has a star’s rating there. But in the real league, KAT is coming off a 5 year stretch where he’s averaged about 50 games played, and entering into a 4 year stretch when his average salary will be 55 mm per year. Even when he was healthy, and playing his best, he never came close to being a lead dog on a contender. The best comp I can come up with is Bradley Beal. A damaged floor, a descending ceiling and a price ready to reset at a vastly higher rate.
It’s funny to me when people reference 2K as if they themselves are a superior at evaluating talent as compared to the people that actually get paid to rate players. They do a good job on ratings with the exception being rookies as rookies by nature are hard to evaluate because there’s no film of the player in an actual NBA setting. Of course they fix those ratings as the season progresses.
His rating on 2K is 88 overall. With an overall 58 on defense, 67 on rebounding, 90 on outside shooting and 83 inside. The game casts him as a secondary three level scorer. I think that’s pretty accurate with it being harsh on defense as he’s played decent defense this season. Most “stars” are rated 90+ on 2K. As in real life 2K KAT is hard to trade and to trade for because of his salary and talent.
2k doesn’t have an understanding on what market value is, Kat has little relative to his contract
It also doesn’t take into consideration Minnesota has paid the tax once in 25 years
They are about to blow past Apron 2 when Ants escalator kicks in and that’s with letting SLO-Mo and Morris walk
It also doesn’t take in there seems to be a money problem in Minny currently
And most importantly it doesn’t take in Glen Taylor who has to be the architect in the process
I dont think the poster is trying to demonstrate superior knowledge on player evals, he’s just portraying a clear mind going into the situation knowing what all the variables are (something 2k severely lacks) There are NO reset buttons in real life, perhaps that’s where 2k’s confidence/boldness stems from
The 2k administrators are paid to rate players, but for an audience concerned with their video game prowess based on selected stats. If they serve that audience well, they should be commended for it (its their job). However, those ratings aren’t player evaluations, at least not ones that any real basketball fan would care about.