Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns will return to the court for the first time since mid-January to play against the LA Clippers on Wednesday.
Towns has been cleared to return from post health and safety protocol reconditioning. Towns, who hasn’t played since Jan. 13, announced on Twitter on Jan. 15 that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and went on to miss 13 straight games.
Wednesday will mark just his fifth game this season.
While Towns is back in the starting lineup, the Timberwolves are without D’Angelo Russell (left leg soreness) and Jarrett Culver (left ankle sprain). The Clippers will have point guard Patrick Beverley back after he missed eight straight games with right knee soreness. Paul George, though, remains out with a swollen right toe.
Towns has been grief-stricken since his mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, and six other family members died of complications from the coronavirus.
Minnesota head coach Ryan Saunders said Towns’ willingness to talk openly about his grief and experiences has made an immense impact.
“That takes a lot of courage in so many different ways,” Saunders said. “Many people have experience grief and loss. You hear it but until you live it, you don’t understand that grief is linear. Everybody goes through ups and downs. Karl has done an unbelievable job, I feel, in managing any type of low moments that he may have so he that he can be a light to other people.
“And I think that is something that should be talked about more. We wish we would have had more games so far this year but it just wasn’t in the cards. But the impact he is having on people and how he is being outspoken with what he’s dealt with will have more of an impact than anything he can do on the court.”
The NBA on Wednesday said one player tested positive for coronavirus in the past week, meaning only two have gotten that diagnosis in the last three weeks. The total for the season in the NBA is up to 92, but of those, 48 — or 52% — tested positive in November, before training camps officially opened.