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.
