Illness settles in for a long ride with the Wolves

Whatever bug has been plaguing the Timberwolves just won't go away.

Over the past few weeks, Andrew Wiggins, Treveon Graham, Shabazz Napier and Karl-Anthony Towns have missed time because of illness.

Others have played through it.

That's how it goes when you share airplanes, equipment and training rooms, but the Wolves can't quite shake it. Coach Ryan Saunders said this is as long as he has seen something like this linger.

"We're into analytics, but I don't have the analytics on that," he said. "… We were looking around the locker room after the game [Monday] and reading some of the other health reports. There's a number of teams that have gone through the flu bug too."

Saunders added: "You remind everybody to wash your hands."

Napier said the history of the bug goes back as far as November.

"It needs to go home," Napier said. "Someone let it move in. It's tough, but opportunity comes available for a lot of guys and I think guys are doing a great job, especially Naz [Reid]. We just got to hold the fort until we become fully healthy."

One player who hasn't been affected by it is Noah Vonleh, who was thankful for his "strong immune system."

"I've been healthy for the most part," he said.

"I think, throughout my career, I haven't really gotten sick at all, thank God. … I'm just fighting everything off the best I could."

Towns' injury and illness have opened up minutes at the starting spot that Vonleh, Reid and Gorgui Dieng have been splitting. For Vonleh, it has meant a significant increase in his playing time, which some nights was nonexistent when Towns was healthy.

"There's only one way to handle that," Vonleh said. "You've just got to put the work in. When you're not playing, you've just got to pay attention to detail, keep working on your craft, stay mentally locked in, however that is players do it. For me, it's just watching film, being ready for when guys get in foul trouble or when somebody gets hurt and goes down."

Over the Wolves' 14 games leading to Wednesday, Vonleh had played in 11, only sitting out because of a left gluteal contusion. He has averaged 14.1 points and 5.1 points per game.

"It can be tough, but you've got to stay locked in, you've got to be a pro," Vonleh said. "You just never know what circumstances you're going to be put in, so you've just got to stay mentally locked in and be prepared for any situation that's thrown at you."

Saunders lauded Vonleh's professionalism in handling his time out.

"I always tell players, you have a right to be upset with me because that's a part of this job," Saunders said. "You wish you could play everybody. Unfortunately you can't. There's something not right I think with you as a competitor if you're not upset that you're not playing. Or you're not getting the minutes you feel you're working for. But you can't let that affect the team. Noah does a great job of really lifting the team and not being down about things like that."