The Minnesota Timberwolves will not have the services of D’Angelo Russell for the next few weeks. According to a report by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Russell needs to undergo a procedure on his left knee to remove a loose body, and as a result, he’ll spend the nest 4-6 weeks on the mend.
ESPN Sources: Minnesota Timberwolves guard D’Angelo Russell will undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body in his left knee and is expected to miss four-to-six weeks.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 16, 2021
Shortly after, the news was confirmed by the team.
Per @Twolves_PR @Dloading will undergo arthroscopic surgery tomorrow to remove a loose body from his left knee. He'll remain out between 4-6 weeks
— Dave Schwartz (@Dave_Schwartz) February 16, 2021
It’s an absolutely brutal turn of events for the team, which just got Karl-Anthony Towns back into the lineup following a bout with COVID-19. Russell has started 19 of the 20 games in which he’s appeared this season — he hasn’t appeared in four of their last five tilts, and the one time he did take the floor, he played less than six minutes — and has averaged 19.3 points and 5.1 assists in 29.2 minutes a night while connecting on just a hair under 40 percent of his attempts from three.
In his stead, Minnesota will presumably turn to the stead hand of Ricky Rubio, who has been pinch hitting in the starting lineup with Russell out. Regardless of whether he’s out for the low-end of that projection or he misses all six weeks, the implication would be that Russell won’t be able to return to the floor until after the All-Star break.
