On Instagram Wednesday afternoon, Karl-Anthony Towns made official what had been rumored for the past few days — that he was set to return Wednesday night following a 52-game absence because of a right calf strain.
Now that Towns has made his long-awaited return, what will it look like as he reacclimates to playing?
Coach Chris Finch had Towns in the starting lineup as he works through initial restrictions and ramps up to full speed.
Towns played 26 minutes, scoring 22 points including the winning free throws.
"Expectations are that he just kind of settles into the flow of the game," Finch said. "Not try to do too much at this point in time. Most importantly, knock the rust off, certainly want him to be himself, but not at the expense of what we're trying to do out there. I think that's a pretty easy ask for him."
The Wolves will see if Towns' reintegration to the lineup may hinder or help how they play as they make a playoff push.
"Definitely a delicate dance," Finch said. "He's going to come back and obviously he's going to come back with a lot of gusto and energy, and that's what we want. We got to trust that we're all going to make the right plays out there."
Related to that, what kind of version of Towns will the Wolves be getting? Finch didn't know if the final two weeks of the regular season would be enough for Towns to get back to his full self on the floor. But the schedule does set up well with multiple off days when Towns can play and take some time to recover. For instance, the Wolves don't play again after Wednesday until Sunday.
