Just how sick was Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns?
Though there is never a good time for sickness, the timing couldn’t be worse for the Timberwolves and their star, as they try to prepare for an all-important season.
The Timberwolves star appears to have been seriously ill in recent days and now faces a fight to recover his health ahead of the start of the NBA regular season.
Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns lost significant weight due to sickness
According to recent reports, Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns had to be hospitalized due to a severe throat infection, which in fact left him struggling to breathe and on bed rest. Indeed, Towns himself explained that having missed Minnesota’s training camp he wasn’t even given clearance to walk until Saturday so that he could attend a team event. Of even greater concern, was the fact that Towns disclosed that he now weighs 231 pounds, having previously been at 248 pounds - a 17-pound loss.
“Shoutout to those people in the hospital, doing an amazing job getting me back healthy,” Towns said. “Treating me so well. Just happy to be back on the court. ...I’m still recovering. I’m still getting better. There was more drastic things to worry about than basketball [during the illness].” As a result, it’s all but certain that Towns will not play in Minnesota’s preseason opener on Tuesday night against the Miami Heat. In truth, there has been no clear indication as to when he will be able to play again, however, his aim is to be ready for the regular-season opener on October 19th against the Oklahoma City Thunder. “I’m just taking my time, let the docs and my body take its course and do what it needs to do to get back,” Towns said. “Whatever the case may be, if it’s preseason and it looks pretty good for it, we’ll just see as the days go by. I don’t want to promise anything.”
There is a plus side for KAT and the Timberwolves
If there is one positive for both player and team, it’s that by all indications the problem does not seem to be a long-term one. If Towns can return in the near future, it will undoubtedly be a boost to a revamped Timberwolves team that is about to embark on a critical season. With the addition of super star Rudy Gobert, there is likely to be a need for quite a bit of integration and adjustment, which only re-enforces how significant Towns’ absence is. That being said, the man himself appears to be both conscious and prepared for the weight of expectation. “Championship or bust” were KAT’s words earlier in the summer before adding, “there are no more excuses.”
“I expect a lot of winning, for sure,” Towns said. “I want to win. I’m not up here just blowing smoke. I really want to try to bring a championship right here to Minnesota. I think Rudy adds a huge component to that. He’s gonna be a massive part of us being a championship team. My job is to help him as much as he’s going to help me. His strengths are my weaknesses and his weaknesses are my strengths, so we’ll be able to play off of each other.”