Now that Jimmy Butler is expected to miss a few weeks, could the Minnesota Timberwolves survive without their star forward?
The good news is that Jimmy Butler doesn’t have a torn ACL, as was feared by many Minnesota Timberwolves fans and some in and around the team.
The bad news is that he has officially been diagnosed with a meniscus injury and will likely miss some, if not significant, time.
Minnesota says that they will offer more information when necessary, but doesn’t give any sort of timeline for Butler’s potential return to the lineup.
NEWS: An MRI taken this afternoon on #Twolves forward Jimmy Butler's right knee revealed a meniscal injury. Further updates as to Butler's progress will be issued when more information becomes available. pic.twitter.com/IG3l9cODmb
— Timberwolves PR (@Twolves_PR) February 24, 2018
When the original injury occurred, many thought it was bad. It was a non-contact injury and Butler remained on the floor for several minutes after it occurred. Couple that with the fact that Tom Thibodeau had been playing Butler big minutes this season, and it’s pretty clear why many jumped to the major injury possibility.
The question now is, how long can the Minnesota Timberwolves survive without Butler in the lineup?
If in fact he misses, at the very least (I would guess), two weeks, that means Butler would miss roughly five or six games. Again, I believe that will likely be the best prognosis for Butler moving forward.
After all, if this was just a day-to-day injury, you’d think that would be mentioned on the release. It wasn’t. At the same time, it appears that he didn’t “tear” anything either. Which is good news, on the other side of the spectrum.
This injury likely falls in the middle. Could he miss a month?
If so, Butler would miss 12 or 13 games.
To put that into perspective, the Wolves have 20 games remaining on their schedule. If Butler misses half of them, the Wolves could be in trouble. Of the 20 games remaining on its schedule, the Wolves face 12 “playoff” or close to “playoff” opponents.
In games that Jimmy Butler sits out this season, the Wolves are 2-4. Take that for what it’s worth.
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Butler is averaging 22 points, five assists and five rebounds per game this season. He’s also shooting 47 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range. Plus, he’s arguably their best defender.
That’s a lot for a young Minnesota Timberwolves team to overcome, even just for the next 10-15 games. Hopefully, he doesn’t miss a ton of time. But we should his official prognosis fairly soon.