The Minnesota Timberwolves enter the 2022-23 season with higher expectations than they’ve had in decades after a trip to the playoffs last season and the big offseason trade to acquire Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz.
Adding Gobert to their talented core of Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards, and D’Angelo Russell figured to push them further up the list of Western Conference contenders, but as training camp arrived, Towns was notably absent. The All-Star center missed the first week of camp with a non-COVID illness that left him hospitalized. On Monday, Towns returned to the Wolves facility and offered minimal details on what he was dealing with, but noted that he just got cleared to walk again on Saturday after being bed-ridden and lost nearly 20 pounds.
Karl-Anthony Towns didn't go into deep detail about what he's been through, but said he only started walking again after his non-covid illness on Saturday. He's down to 231 pounds. But says he feels good to be back out on the court and is ramping back up.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 3, 2022
Karl-Anthony Towns when he was in the hospital: "There was more drastic things to worry about than basketball at that moment. I wasn’t too worried about basketball for a while. But I miss the game, I love the game. I miss these guys."
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 3, 2022
It’s a scary situation for someone who has dealt with an awful lot off of the basketball court in recent years, as he lost his mother to COVID-19 in 2020 and later dealt with his own difficult battle with the virus that included some “scary nights” in his own words.
The good news is that Towns seems to be on the mend and he hopes to be fully ready for the start of the season in two weeks, but the Timberwolves will certainly be monitoring him closely to ensure that he’s as close to full health and full strength before he gets back on the court for the hopeful contenders.
UPDATE: Per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Towns was dealing with a throat infection that forced him into the hospital and onto bed rest for several days.
