Minnesota: Gobert loses his racket friend

Aurélie SACCHELLI, Media365, published on Wednesday November 30, 2022 at 09:27

Minnesota Timberwolves inside Karl-Anthony Towns will be out between four and six weeks with a calf injury. A blow for Rudy Gobert and his team.

The “twin towers” ​​are taking a forced break. While Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert have occupied the Minnesota Timberwolves racket since the start of the season, for a record of 10 wins and 11 losses and an eleventh place in the Western Conference, “KAT” will be sidelined for four to six weeks. The n°1 of the 2015 draft was indeed injured (all alone) in the calf on Monday during the defeat in Washington, and we will therefore not see him again before 2023. A very heavy blow for the Minneapolis-based franchise, as Towns had been running since the start of the season at 20.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists, on 50.5% shooting success in 21 games. Coach Chris Finch will have to find a tactical solution, since KAT (2.11m) occupied the position of strong winger and Rudy Gobert (2.16m) that of pivot. The French will therefore find himself alone in the racket and will have to adapt.

Down stats for Gobert this season

The former Utah player’s stats are down this season from last year: 13.8 points, 12.4 rebounds and 0.9 average assists in 2022-23 compared to 15.6 points, 14, 7 rebounds (career high) and 1.1 assists in 2021-22. Gobert will have at least fifteen games to play without Towns by the end of the year (or even eight more if KAT does not return until mid-January) and therefore the opportunity to prove that the big “trade” put in place by Wolves this summer to be able to sign him was a good idea. Minnesota’s results so far have been too spotty to form a definitive picture, but Gobert’s performance is sure to be under close scrutiny throughout December. Long in competition when they played in two different teams (especially for the All Star Game selection), the 30-year-old Frenchman and the 27-year-old American-Dominican had put their egos aside to play together. But their duo will not be reformed anytime soon.