Injuries, Trade Rumors Leave Timberwolves Season Uncertain
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Nikolai Pekovic did not practice Tuesday and will not play Wednesday with an ankle injury. Kevin Martin is out indefinitely with a broken thumb.
Between injuries and a 25-28 record heading into the All-Star break, the future is very uncertain for the Minnesota Timberwolves. There's also the NBA trade deadline, which is looming Thursday.
Among the names mentioned in possible deals were guard J.J. Barea forward Chase Budinger. There are even rumors that teams have been calling about Kevin Love.
This is the time of year where players get tired of the same uneasy questions, so they deflect the answers.
"Well that's something that's out of my control. That's something that, I'm a veteran, I've been hearing trade rumors throughout my career," Barea said. I don't listen to that. If it happens, it happens. I'm happy where I'm at and just focused on the next game."
The problem is Rick Adelman understands they need to win better than 20 games the rest of the regular season to make the playoffs. He thinks his players understand that too.
"We've got a game (Wednesday) and then five games on the road that we have to win, it's as simple as that," Adelman said. "They all should know that if they took math and everything."
Right now it's the same old story with the Timberwolves repeating itself, just with a slightly different group of players.
Maybe Love can carry the team on his shoulders. They've already tried that, so he's just a veteran looking for something good to happen.
"We just want to fight as much as we can and we know we have 29 or 30 games left. We have to really fight," Love said.
The second half stretch starts Wednesday night at Target Center against the Indiana Pacers.
