Monday night’s game against the Washington Wizards included one of the last things that anyone involved with the Minnesota Timberwolves wants to see — Karl Anthony-Towns leaving with a non-contact injury.
Towns was running down the floor for a defensive possession when he suddenly came up lame. He went to the ground, holding the lower part of his right leg.
Karl-Anthony Towns goes down with the dreaded non-contact injury.pic.twitter.com/tBhSMv2FEF
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) November 29, 2022
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN quickly reported that Towns would not return to the game.
Minnesota has ruled out Towns with a right calf strain for rest of game. https://t.co/e0Dy6F4ZvQ
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 29, 2022
Understandably, there was a lot of concern for Towns in the aftermath of his injury.
Oh no… https://t.co/ow2833ee9J
— Dr. A (@docktora) November 29, 2022
Oh man, this sucks
I hope everything’s alright https://t.co/G2KwdqIGNv
— Mark Schindler (@MG_Schindler) November 29, 2022
This is tough https://t.co/9Sxe3zYoFJ
— Kristian Winfield (@Krisplashed) November 29, 2022
Towns didn’t appear to put any weight on his leg as he was helped back. https://t.co/sXjRnLVsaN
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) November 29, 2022
More will of course ultimately be known shortly. One early positive, however, is that the Timberwolves called it a calf injury. All injuries, of course, are bad. But when we see a player go down that way with a non-contact injury, the immediate fear is an ACL or Achilles tear. Either would end Towns’ season and may even spill into next year. This being a calf injury wouldn’t be good news, but it wouldn’t be quite as concerning.
The early part of the 2022-23 season has not gone well for Towns. Before Monday, he was averaging 34.4 minutes per game, his highest total since the 2017-18 season. Despite that, his 21.4 points per game were by far the lowest since that 2017-18 season (in every season since, he’s averaged at least 24.4 points per game), while his 8.5 rebounds per game are a career low.
Towns had eight points and two rebounds in Monday’s game at the time of his injury.
[Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter]
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