Woj’s update on Karl-Anthony Towns’ meniscus injury and LeBron’s left ankle | NBA Today

Woj’s update on Karl-Anthony Towns’ meniscus injury and LeBron’s left ankle | NBA Today

The number one seed in the west could be without their second leading score Carl Anthony towns has suffered a left miniscus injury cat is in his ninth season with Minnesota and this is by far the best team they’ve had during his tenure our senior NBA Insider Adrien wowski reported this news early this

Morning so w What can you tell us about cat’s Health uh Chan a left miniscus injury for KL Anthony towns he’s getting further evaluation today and both he and the team the doctors are trying to decide uh whether Carl Anthony towns is going to need an immediate action uh

Whether there needs to be a procedure or can he continue to play with some you know form of rehab and that’s what they’re evaluating right now they expect to have an answer you know fairly soon uh but it’s still unclear about how much time if any uh Carl Anthony towns will

Miss with this left knee injury you know certainly he’s had an outstanding season for a team that’s a top the Western Conference standings 22 points a game 43% from three made his fourth All-Star game this season uh but you know I think we’ll know more here perhaps in the next

24 hours about the extent of this left knee injury and the possibility uh that KL Anthony towns uh you know again may have to get a procedure or uh will be able to play through this perhaps address it in the off season that’s what they’re trying to decide

That’s a very difficult decision now if he is out for a significant amount of time is there still hope for him to get back in the playoffs uh that’s unclear uh Chan I think right now there are no timelines there’s no uh there’s no procedure Set uh but I think potentially certain

Certainly the the hope is that if there is is some sort of procedure that he could get back especially with a team built to make a deep playoff run uh but I think it’s still premature I think they’ve got to decide the severity of this injury uh and what the course of

Action uh is going to be required okay W thank you so much please stick around because given this news here is how the Timberwolves have fared with and without cat on the floor they have been much better offensively with towns on the floor obviously this season but their

Concern is that they’re 106 offensive efficiency with him off the floor that is worse than the last ranked offensive team the Memphis Grizzlies and I really want to get our NBA senior writer Brian windhorse his take on this because Brian what does this injury prognosis mean for cat and the Timberwolves given that

They’re going to be missing for sometime someone that gives you what 22 points a game and is a 42% three-point shooter well you don’t just replace an Allstar that’s for that’s clear no matter how much time he misses the wolves are equipped with some reasonable depth in their big man spots in the

Initial response here I think you will see Kyle Anderson spend more time playing the power forward position uh also they have Nas Reed to bring Off the Bench to be part of their big man rotation Nas Reed is one of the best backup big men in the league um and I

Think what you’ll see especially with Anderson is that the Wolves will be able to be a little bit quicker one of the things that you see with Carl towns as great of an outside shooter as he is he does slow the team down a little bit so

One of the things that they’re going to have to do to generate offense is to get going a little bit and uh and and move the ball in transition this is not uh necessarily A a season ending situation uh for the Wolves they are equipped they are an excellent defensive team even

When Carl’s not on the court and they have a a good deep roster I think the important thing for them is try to do whatever you can to get Carl towns a position to play in an eventual series with the Denver Nuggets and that might hopefully might be for a long time from

Now which leaves a lot of options on on the table as LeBron said he’s been dealing with this ankle for a while so how concerned W are the Lakers about this long term uh Jen not so much long term but probably you know for the rest of this

Season you know this is an injury as Dave mcminniman described last night that’s a wear and tear injury on that left ankle I was told today you know that it’s something LeBron James has had to manage throughout the season especially since right prior to the All-Star break and he’s going to

Continue to have to manage uh this ankle injury you know through the rest of the season this is still a player in his 25th year you know that is among the league leaders in points at The Rim you know he is you know certainly planting

Hard on that ankle he is you know he is not a jump shooter at this point in his career so you know you are going to put a lot of stress on that ankle again 24 21st season 39 years old you know this is just part of what LeBron James has to

Manage now and that doesn’t mean there won’t be some days off perhaps between now and the end of the year you know to help manage that but I’m told there’s no expectation uh that he’s going to have to miss time if it you know just

Continues uh to be what it has been and that’s sort of an on on again off again uh uh pain tolerance issue for him so a number of teams having to manage their stars in the west thank you w for joining us and giving us these updates

For these key players down the stretch we’ll talk to you again soon now since the Lakers will be running it back soon let’s dive into this matchup further sabonis has gotten the better of ad when guarding each other in these matchups half court but you know if you look at

This overall it’s the points it’s also the assists where he has truly separated himself so we’ve got two of the best bigs in sabonis and AD matching up and they’re going to have a rematch again soon now it should have been a battle of the bigs but maybe you didn’t see so

Much battle on Los Angeles’s part well I would have a lot to say to that defense um particularly in the second quarter but looking to this matchup with sabonis hold up let’s stop right here first of all you see sabonis up guarding the pick and roll so when we’re talking about

These matchups I think sabonis is try hard Factor the attention to detail he’s up he’s engaged in this ball hand uh this pick and roll and if you let it roll here he keeps the ball in front they stop the ball stop right here and he’s picking the ball he’s in front and

The name of the game with sabonis is angles right he has figured out these angles going against Anthony Davis so here he does a great job knowing the Scout moves his feet takes the bump and contact instill verticality at The Rim that’s a tough shot okay he wins that

Battle we go down to the other end now on the offensive end stop he D where you at man I know you’re in a drop you’re pushing on the sidelines I get it you can still be up and involved a little bit of presence on the ball because what happened

Throughout the course of the game not just with this matchup is the ball penetration got way too deep into the Laker defense and if you run it right here we have no physicality on the ball balls stop right here impact the ball you’re doing nothing back there he’s chilling

He’s chilling come on ad come right here you can still get this angle back and keep him up and instead of meeting sabonis down here at The Rim as we run it you’d be meeting him up here again just too deep into the gut of the Laker

Defense yeah I I think you were joking you know before the show you could have been out there you know playing a little bit of Defense as a guard fighting over the screens but this is what’s crazy right here it wasn’t just last night in his career sabonis is nine and0

Head-to-head versus Anthony Davis and they will meet again as I mentioned earlier in a week so we will see what happens so Scott what concerns you the most from what you saw from the Lakers last night well Becky touched on it beautifully at the end is that

Penetration into the lane and as any basketball player or basketball coach knows that is how you beat a defense it’s penetrating constantly and that’s the worst thing a defense can uh can happen to a team defensively de’ Aaron Fox got into that lane all night for

Easy layups easy floaters 32 of his 44 points it forces uh defensive teams to start to rotate help too much and that’s where we know a lot of mistakes are made during those times so uh the Lakers are going to have to show that up because they get into the playoffs they’re going

To see Shake ildis Alexander who can get downhill they’re going to see Anthony Edwards who can get downhill Jamal Murray who can get downhill so the list goes on and on they got to show up that perimeter defense and you just did an excellent job breaking down the issues

With ad sort of not being aggressive being aggressive on defense but Brian more than likely LeBron will need some nights off down the stretch Can ad carry the team on those nights especially offensively well ad is actually having a really great season he had his 50th uh

Double double of the year but that stat that we showed a second ago that sabonis is 9 and0 against ad in his career that is very relevant not just because they’re playing again here in a few days in Sacramento but because this is lined up to potentially be a playin matchup

Potentially a a winner take all match up to advance and you know the thing about sabonis is the he’s really tough to deal with in near the basket he’s number one in the league in rebounding and he’s the best defensive rebounder in the league when when he plays ad he takes away the

Offensive rebound that’s a big part of ad’s game because over the last two or three seasons he’s just stopped taking those outside shots if you go back and look he’s nowhere near the same outside shooter that he was when the Lakers won the title back in 2020 and when you

Don’t have sabonis in space that plays to his advantage and it’s played to his advantage in these last nine matchups and it’s it’s a schematic thing and it’s something for the Lakers to be concerned about not just for the standings but for the actual head-to-heads with the Kings

Which there could be some giant ones in the very near Future

Woj’s update on Karl-Anthony Towns’ meniscus injury and LeBron’s left ankle | NBA Today
Adrian Wojnarowski joins NBA Today and gives an update on Karl-Anthony Towns’ left meniscus injury and LeBron James’ left ankle.
#nbatoday #nba #espn

0:00 Woj on KAT’s health
2:40 Brian Windhorst on what KAT’s injury means for the Minnesota Timberwolves
4:00 How concerned are the Lakers about LeBron’s ankle?
6:00 Becky Hammon breaks down Kings vs. Lakers
7:40 Can the Lakers count on Anthony Davis down the stretch?

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