Timberwolves roster injuries grows, as does concerns for this team

The Minnesota Timberwolves roster is not thick with talent at the moment. In fact, this team is hurting, carrying 20-33 percent of the team’s roster injured on any given night, which forces this team to push the remaining healthy players to the max.

Despite the gutsy win recently against the powerhouse Denver Nuggets, flipping their debut in 2023 to a far more pleasant positive note, the Minnesota Timberwolves are not exactly chipper right now. This is a team that for all intents and purposes has been battered a bit. And that starts to add up when two All-Stars, 60 percent of the starting lineup, and 33 percent of the active roster, cannot suit up.

Injuries keep piling up

And despite the point of players being day-to-day status what seems like weeks ago, this injury list continues to grow:

The last minutes logged for backup PG Jordan McLaughlin was December 9, 2022. The last minutes logged for backup PF Taurean Prince were even earlier, on November 23, 2022. And starting PF Karl-Anthony Towns has not played since November 28, 2022. Of that group, only KAT was projected to be out until January 2023.

Of course illness in flu season is to be expected. And the occasional bask spasms are the toll taken during the long NBA season. If the Minnesota Timberwolves roster had healthy players, it would be easily absorbed. But the current roster, shy of two key power forwards and one key point guard, has turned these other injuries and illnesses that spring up from minor matters to major productions.

Timberwolves’ Two-way time

Imagine how much time it must take away from valuable game planning time to reset the starting lineup and rotations each night. The depletion of healthy players is, in part, compensated by sapping more energy from the coaching staff. How long can the Timberwolves keep it up? Well, cracks are beginning to show already. This is a team that has won just once in their last five games, and four times in their last 13 games.

To their credit, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been getting productive minutes out of both Two-Way contract players: Matt Ryan and Luka Garza. Ryan has appeared in 10 games for the Timberwolves, averaging 8.1 minutes per game to average 2.6 points. Garza has appeared in nine games, averaging 6.6 minutes, but putting up 4.4 points per game.

While every little bit helps, the only way to find a more permanent and sustainable solution is to get those injured Timberwolves players back online and quickly.