Karl-Anthony Towns (torn meniscus) to have surgery, out at least 1 month

This season, Karl-Anthony Towns was an All-Star and is one of the top scorers for the Wolves.

The Timberwolves announced on Thursday that All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns will need to undergo surgery for a torn left knee meniscus, a diagnosis made through an MRI. He will be reassessed in four weeks, casting uncertainty on his ability to play in the first round of the NBA Playoffs and possibly further rounds.

NEWS: Karl-Anthony Towns Injury Update

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Towns is averaging 22.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and three assists per game this season while shooting 50.6% overall and 42.3% on 3-pointers. He has helped the Wolves (44-19) to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and the second-best record in the league.

Impact of Towns’ injury: Minnesota is enjoying its best season since 2003-04, when that squad won 58 games and reached the Western Conference Finals. Towns has been instrumental in that and his health has been a large factor, too, after he only played in 29 games last season due to various injuries.

He’s played in 60 games this season and has been a scoring force for the Wolves, dropping a career-best 62 points on the Hornets in late January. Behind Towns, fellow All-Star Anthony Edwards and shot-blocking center Rudy Gobert, the Wolves have the best defensive rating in the NBA and have been strong of late, winning nine of their last 12 games.

The Wolves were without Towns in a thrilling 113-111 road win against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday. Even without Towns, Minnesota managed to hold the league’s highest-scoring team nearly 13 points below its average.

The absence of Towns led to reserve forward Kyle Anderson starting in the lineup. He played for 27 minutes against the Pacers, scoring six points, three rebounds, and four assists. The absence of Towns also implies that the prominent reserve big man, Naz Reid, will probably have a more significant role. However, he maintained his bench role against the Pacers, ending the game with 13 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.

Besides Reid, the Wolves are somewhat lacking in the frontline and will probably rely more on Edwards, the team’s top scorer with 26.1 points per game, for scoring as Towns recovers.

Towns was absent for 52 games last season due to a strained calf muscle. He managed to come back for the team’s playoff push but had a challenging time in the first-round series, which they lost to the Denver Nuggets. He had an average of 18.2 points per game and only managed an overall shot rate of 45.7% in that series (25% on 3-pointers). Neither he nor the Wolves have been able to advance past the first playoff round during their time as teammates.

Chris Finch, the coach of Minnesota, thinks that the Timberwolves can adapt to a period without Towns.

“It’s not a plug-in one person to fill Karl’s role kind of situation,” he said. “What I love about our team is that we have a multitude of options. We can go a lot of different ways based on matchups on any given night. We’ve started different guys through the season anyway.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.