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 needs surgery to repair a torn left knee meniscus, as revealed by an MRI. His condition will be reassessed in four weeks, which puts into question his ability to play 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 up to the starting lineup. In the game against the Pacers, Anderson completed with six points, three rebounds, and four assists in a span of 27 minutes. The absence of Towns also indicates that the prominent reserve big man, Naz Reid, is likely to take on a bigger role. Despite this, Reid maintained his bench role against the Pacers, ending the game with 13 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.

Apart from Reid, the Wolves lack depth in the frontline and will probably rely more on Edwards — the team’s top scorer with an average of 26.1 points per game — while Towns recovers.

Towns sat out 52 games last season due to a strained calf muscle. He managed to return for the team’s playoff push but had a tough time in the first-round series loss against the Denver Nuggets. In that series, he averaged 18.2 points per game and only had an overall shooting percentage of 45.7% (25% for 3-pointers). Towns and the Wolves have not been able to progress past the first playoff round during their time as a team.

Chris Finch, the coach of Minnesota, is confident 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.