The Minnesota Timberwolves got some rough news over the weekend. Their leader and All-Star wing player Jimmy Butler will likely miss at the least the remainder of the regular season after suffering a torn meniscus in Minnesota’s loss to Houston Friday night.
He underwent surgery over the weekend and doesn’t have a clear timetable for return at this point.
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The T’Wolves are currently in 4th place in the western conference at 37-26, but they are only 3.5 games ahead of the 9th place Clippers who are 31-27.
This is really bad news and unfortunate timing for a T’Wolves team that seemed assured to make their 1st postseason appearance since 2004 and was well equipped to position themselves to possibly have home court for their 1st round match-up as well.
Typically, the return timetable is in the 4 to 6 week range, using the most conservative end of that time frame, that would have Butler back essentially at the end of the 2017-18 regular season.
Everybody responds differently in their recovery though and the T’Wolves have plenty of precautionary tales of what it can do to a players career if he comes back before he is fully ready, think Brandon Roy.
This is just another example in a line of many that show that Tom Thibodeau overworks his players and increases the likelihood that they suffer more injuries…
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Here’s to hoping the Wolves can stay afloat while the await Butler’s recovery.
