Pekovic hurting multiple ways, out for Knicks game and beyond

So what's the latest deal with Wolves center Nikola Pekovic?

That same hurting ankle that bothered him in previous seasons? A personal situation? Or a sprained wrist sustained Saturday at Dallas?

Turns out it seems to be some of all three things.

Pekovic said after shootaround this morning that painful bursa sac in his ankle began bothering him more again starting with last week's game in Mexico City. But he said the wrist that he banged in Dallas is the condition a doctor recommended he take the week off to heal.

As for the personal situation to which Flip Saunders attributed Pekovic's absence from practice Monday...it was a trip Pekovic and his mother made to Rochester and the Mayo medical facilities, where each had their own appointments.

Pekovic said before tonight's game against New York at Target Center that he will visit a doctor again beginning of next week and is hopeful he'll be cleared then to resume practicing.

"Of course, it's just the beginning of the season, of course it's disappointing," he said. "But it's more disappointing when you try to do something and you just can't. When you're in pain, you make more damage than you can help your team. That's more disappointing that just sitting on the side...It's better to sit, take a few days off, try to heal everything as much as I can and then try to come back and play how I can play."

None of those steps has prevented a rash of injuries that affected the team both past and present.

"There are some things you can't control," Pekovic said. "Ricky (Rubio), he played four, five games and he sprained his ankle and he's out for two months. The only thing you can control is you can do everything they say to protect yourself. We try to do what we can: We try to do our weights, try to do our stretching. Some things you just can't help it...

"It gets frustrating every time. This is our job. We don't work in an office. You get hurt. You get hit, especially me, how I play. I get hit a lot."

Pekovic is out for least the next three games. So, too, is Thad Young, who remains away from the team after his mother died last week. Rubio's out, too.

That leaves a starting lineup with four players who are rookies (Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine) or second-year players (Gorgui Dieng, Anthony Bennett) and veteran Kevin Martin.