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 surgery to fix a torn left knee meniscus, as indicated by an MRI. His condition will be reassessed in four weeks, which casts doubt on his ability to participate in the first round of the NBA Playoffs and possibly further.

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 stepping into the starting lineup. He ended up scoring six points, three rebounds and four assists against the Pacers in 27 minutes. With Towns out, it’s probable that the prominent reserve big man, Naz Reid, will have an expanded role. He maintained his bench role against the Pacers, finishing with 13 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.

The Wolves, however, are somewhat lacking in frontline apart from Reid. As Towns recovers, the team will likely place more scoring responsibility on Edwards, who is currently their top scorer with an average of 26.1 points per game.

Towns sat out 52 games in the previous season due to a calf muscle strain. He made it back for the team’s playoff push but had a tough time in the first-round series defeat against the Denver Nuggets. In that series, he averaged 18.2 points per game and had an overall shooting percentage of just 45.7% (25% on 3-pointers). During their time together, Towns and the Wolves have not yet advanced past the first round of the playoffs.

Chris Finch, Minnesota’s coach, thinks the Timberwolves can manage a stretch 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.