Karl-Anthony Towns doing 'basketball activities,' but Timberwolves still offer no timeline on his return

After the Timberwolves came out of the All-Star break, coach Chris Finch said center Karl-Anthony Towns was in the "final stages" of ramping back up to play following the right calf injury that has kept him out since Nov. 28.

Finch said that nearly two weeks ago. Is Towns still in the final stages of coming back? Finch said he was.

"He's doing some basketball activities now, which is good to see," Finch said. "Still no real timeline for him, though."

Time is ticking away on the Wolves' season, and the time needed for Towns to get back and reacclimate to playing a full allotment of minutes. He has been traveling with the team and was on their recent West Coast road trip. The team does not make injured players available to the media, and Towns has addressed his injury only a few times via his Twitch stream.

"We talk almost every single day," Finch said. "But I'm not a medical expert, so I don't get into the weeds about how he's feeling with everything."

Finch said two weeks ago Towns was excited and anxious to get back to playing; he said Towns still feels that way now.

"There's a sense of real urgency for him to, I think now, he can see the end in sight, and I think he's getting excited by that," Finch said.

The Wolves have never publicly put a timeline on Towns' return. All that has come from the organization is President Tim Connelly telling the Star Tribune and other outlets the team expected Towns to be back at some point this season. Was that still the case?

"We're hopeful. Yeah," Finch said.

Anthony Edwards picked up a technical foul early in the Wolves' game against the Lakers on Friday, but after review, the NBA rescinded the technical foul, reducing Edwards' total to 12 for the season.

That's significant for Edwards and the Wolves because a player incurs a one-game suspension upon receiving his 16th technical foul. Memphis' Dillon Brooks is the only player to reach that mark this season through Tuesday. Edwards had been picking up technicals at a quick pace in the first half of the season but has been more careful in his communication with the referees since.

That hasn't been an accident. Finch said the league has spoken with Edwards concerning how he can better communicate with officials.

"The league did a great job of educating him on certain behaviors and better, more effective ways to communicate and all that kind of stuff," Finch said. "They were able to help us connect the dots there, too. Certainly we were behind it and the league will always listen and try to help whenever they can when you bring concerns to them.

"It was a bad habit that Ant had gotten into, and we're really proud of him. I think he's gone 20-plus games without really any kind of issue there."