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It's late February, and the big questions for the Timberwolves and Minnesota United are the same as they were in early January: When will Karl-Anthony Towns and Emanuel Reynoso be back in action?
The fact that those questions have been asked earnestly for almost two months should be a source of frustration for anyone involved with either team — and the lack of answers combined with an urgency fueled by the calendar has only served to increase that sentiment in recent days.
The situations are different in some ways, as Towns has a defined injury (calf strain) with an undefined recovery timetable. Initial reports — from national media, not the Wolves or the Star Tribune — suggested he could return in 4-6 weeks, which might have meant a return in early January. But it's been close to 13 weeks now since his Nov. 28 injury.
Reynoso has simply been absent from Loons camp since it opened Jan. 6 while dealing with personal issues.
What they have in common is a lack of transparency from the respective teams in explaining the ongoing absences, and the lack of information is probably the most frustrating thing of all. Even if the Wolves and Loons don't have complete information, they probably have more than they are telling us right now.
I talked about both situations on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast, including a lengthy interview with Minnesota United manager Adrian Heath about Reynoso and the start of the MLS season Saturday in Dallas.
"It would be foolish of me to come on here and say we're not disappointed," Heath said on the podcast. He added later: "If you take the best players out of the best teams in any sport, it affects the group."
He was talking about Reynoso, of course, but he could have been speaking of Towns as well. Reynoso is a two-time MLS All-Star. Towns is a two-time all-NBA player. Their absences have a profound impact on winning, particularly as the Wolves enter the post-break stretch with just 21 games left and the Loons try to make the playoffs for the fifth straight year.
The timetable for a return for either player, though, remains vague.
"He's going through one or two issues that he wants to deal with," Heath said. He added: "The most important thing for us was to find out if he wanted to be here. None of that is an issue. Rey wants to be here. ... I'm hopeful that we can get him back here."
Wolves coach Chris Finch on Thursday said this of Towns, who won't play Friday against Charlotte when the schedule resumes; "I don't know how long it's going to be, but talking to him, I definitely sense more so than any other conversation I've had with him up until this point that he's chomping at the bit to get back and ready to help this team when that time comes."
It sure would be nice to know the full story with Reynoso. It sure would be nice to know the actual severity of Towns' injury so we know if his rehabilitation is on reasonable timeline.
Until we know more — or until one or both are back, if that even happens at all — there figures to be a lot more frustration and speculation than jubilation with both teams.
