Saturday was the one-year anniversary of the trade that brought D'Angelo Russell to the Timberwolves.
It's both amazing that it has already been a year, and the fact that circumstances have conspired to prevent the franchise from really knowing that they have with the pair of Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns.
COVID-19 concerns ended last season early, and have kept Towns out of the lineup of late. Add in injuries.
The bottom line is that Towns and Russell have only played in the same game five times since that trade. Saturday, in the back end of back-to-back games at Oklahoma City, both players were out, Russell because of a flareup of soreness in his right quad.
Five times together, in one year.
"Yeah, when you take a step back and you see it from a large lens, it can be frustrating," coach Ryan Saunders said.
Saunders said the day-to-day process of working with the team prevents him from dwelling on who is and isn't available. Indeed, he said, many of the rotations he is looking at now, the process the team is going through is designed so the team is ready when both Towns and Russell are healthy.
"There's a reason for everything right now," Saunders said. "And that's so that we can help speed up the process when a guy like KAT gets back and those two are playing together, because of hos playes compliment them is important."
