Kevin Love will not require surgery on fractured hand, still likely to miss 6 to 8 weeks of action – NBA News
The Minnesota Timberwolves were relieved to hear on Thursday that their All Star franchise player Kevin Love would not be needing surgery on his fractured right hand. However, Love will still miss 6 to 8 weeks of action with the
injury, which means that the team will have to find a replacement for his double digit points and rebounds per game till the time he returns.
Love said on Thursday that he fractured the hand while doing knuckle push ups during practice on Wednesday. He was extremely upset at the sudden turn of events after looking forward to carrying his form from last season into the
next one, and leading the Wolves to a playoff spot in May.
"Although I'm disappointed that this injury happened, I will work extremely hard to stay in shape and return to the court as quickly as possible," said Love.
The injury to Love means that the Minnesota Timberwolves will be without their two best players for the start of season, as Ricky Rubio recovers from an ACL injury to his left knee that he suffered last season. Rubio is scheduled
to return to the team sometime in mid-December, and Love would be making his comeback around the same time as well. This means that the Wolves will have to play the first few weeks without the core of the team, and somehow put up a decent effort to remain
with a chance of finishing in the top eight by the time Love and Rubio returns.
"I was just shocked. I couldn't believe it. Here we're trying to get ready and then we have something like this happen. I learned a long time ago. I've had so many injuries to good players, I've started to think maybe it's me,”
said Wolves Head Coach Rick Adelman, who went through a similar situation when he was coaching the Houston Rockers a few years back, when the Rockets top players Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming struggled with injury troubles.
With Love out, Adelman will play either of Dante Cunningham, Lou Amundson or Derrick Williams at the power forward for the start of the season, and said that the remaining preseason games will help him decide who to replace Love
with. Andrei Kirilenko, the NBA veteran and newly acquired small forward of the Wolves, can also contribute some minutes at the power forward position.
The Wolves were excited about the upcoming season after going through a roster improvement during the summer that had people talking about them as potential playoff contenders. They will now have to fight hard to keep their chances
alive of making it to the playoffs next season.
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