D'Angelo Russell, with leg soreness, is not on Timberwolves road trip

D'Angelo Russell was already ruled out of Friday's game against Charlotte because of left leg soreness but it appears the Timberwolves guard will be out for Sunday's game against Toronto in Florida as well.

Russell did not make the trip for this two-game road swing, coach Ryan Saunders said Friday.

"He's continuing to progress and I don't have other information other than they're just continuing to evaluate him," Saunders said.

Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns have still only played five games together since Russell came to Minnesota. Towns was in the lineup for his second game back from his battle with COVID-19.

Jarrett Culver was ruled out because of the left ankle sprain that has kept him out since Jan. 25 but Saunders said Culver did make the trip.

The Wolves play the Raptors in Tampa, Fla., on Sunday, with the Raptors playing their home games there this season because of coronavirus restrictions in Canada forcing them to play out of the country.

While he was out of the lineup over the last month, Towns revealed on his Instagram account that he was in a car accident during the offseason while in Los Angeles.

Towns offered few details at the time but explained some of what happened during his postgame media session Wednesday. Towns said one afternoon around 2 p.m. he was on his way to a photo shoot for his girlfriend, model Jordyn Woods, when a driver, who Towns said was drunk, drifted over and hit him.

"It wasn't a good wreck," Towns said. "The way I am, even as how I felt and the injuries I sustained and stuff like that I was more worried I messed up her car."

Towns said he spent time in the hospital getting "monitored and tested" and said he was thankful Woods was there to help him recover.

"I survived. I'm happy I was alive. I did what I had to do … all that stuff and she was right there with me."

Towns was also a passenger in a Feb. 2019 accident in Minneapolis while on his way to the airport for a road game.

Rookie Anthony Edwards said earlier in the year that how he plays when Towns and Russell were on the floor were different from how he plays when those two aren't on the floor. Now that Towns is back in the lineup, Edwards said that process can resume of figuring out how his skill set best meshes with Towns.

"I still don't know as you saw [Wednesday]," Edwards said. "I don't really know when to pick and choose because I haven't played with him that much but we're going to figure it out."

Before Edwards was coming off the bench, but Friday marked his second consecutive start with Towns, and that could help that process along.

Saunders said that was one reason the Wolves practiced Thursday when they haven't had many with so many games on their schedule of late.

"We play through Karl a lot at the top of the key so it's going to be a little bit different when Karl breaks a play and gets to the basket because he is dynamic and able to play inside out," Saunders said. "But we don't want to be a your-turn, my-turn type of thing where we turn into an isolation group."