The Minnesota Timberwolves are still working on putting a bow on the abrupt ending to the 2019-20 season. Plus, Gersson Rosas spoke on Karl-Anthony Towns’ health.
The 2019-20 season is over for the Minnesota Timberwolves and seven other NBA franchises. That means that the typical end-of-season items that are drawn out over a few weeks and months are now happening in an entirely different rhythm.
We’ve already missed the original date for the NBA Draft Lottery, which sounds like it may happen in August, per various reports. The NBA Draft was originally scheduled for next week, and that obviously won’t happen on time, either.
Last week, we highlighted comments from both Gersson Rosas and Ryan Saunders as part of the Wolves’ end-of-season media availability.
Chris Hine of the Star Tribune transcribed a bit more of the conversation with Rosas and Saunders regarding Karl-Anthony Towns‘ continued recovery from a fractured wrist. The long story made short is that the Wolves aren’t prepared to give an update on Towns, primarily because of everything that the All-Star big man has been through over the past few months, first and foremost being the tragic death of his mother due too complications from COVID-19.
The only public appearance Towns has made was at a Black Lives Matter rally in Minneapolis, appearing but not speaking alongside teammate Josh Okogie. Otherwise, he’s stayed out of the public eye, and kudos to Rosas for giving KAT some space during an incredibly difficult time.
Rosas does say that the team feels “positive” about the situation surrounding Towns’ wrist, which is good to hear and perhaps implies that no further treatment or surgery might be needed. Of course, if the team comes together for anything resembling an offseason program, we’ll no doubt get an update on the injury.
Elsewhere, Jon Krawczynski at The Athletic (subscription required) ran down the pros and cons of the Wolves’ absence from the NBA’s 22-team re-start in Orlando. (Wonder where Jon got the pros and cons idea … just kidding, Jon is the best. But check out yours truly’s thoughts on the same subject, please.)
While everyone would be happier if the Wolves were involved in the final stanza of the NBA regular season, there are definitely a few pros. Plus, we’ll get to see what the league comes up with for the “other” eight teams. That should be fun.
Keep it tuned to Dunking With Wovles this week as we continue to dive into draft coverage.