T-Wolves' Julius Randle Out at Least 2 Weeks with Adductor Injury

The Minnesota Timberwolves announced Wednesday that power forward Julius Randle will miss at least the next two weeks of action.

Randle left the T-Wolves' Jan. 30 game against the Utah Jazz due to an apparent groin injury, and an MRI has since revealed that the 30-year-old veteran suffered a right adductor strain.

The Timberwolves will re-evaluate Randle in two weeks, meaning he is set to miss at least the next six games and possibly more.

Randle has already missed the Timberwolves' past two games since getting injured, both of which were losses to the Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings.

In his first season with the T-Wolves, Randle appeared in each of the team's first 48 games, and he owns averages of 18.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per contest, while shooting 47.0 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from beyond the arc.

After spending five highly productive seasons with the New York Knicks, Randle was part of the offseason trade that sent superstar big man Karl-Anthony Towns to New York.

The Timberwolves received Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and a first-round pick in exchange for Towns.

Randle enjoyed the best run of his career in New York, averaging 22.6 points, 9.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 330 games. He also earned three All-Star nods during that time, as well as one All-NBA Second Team and one All-NBA Third Team selection.

While Randle has put up solid numbers during his first season in Minnesota, they have largely paled in comparison to what he did in the Big Apple.

To make matters worse for the T-Wolves and their fans, Towns is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career with the Knicks, averaging 24.3 points, 13.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game en route to an All-Star selection.

With Towns, Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert leading the way last season, the Timberwolves had their best year since 2003-04, as they went 56-26 and reached the Western Conference Finals.

Because of that, it came as a major surprise when the T-Wolves decided to make a move as big as shipping out Towns for Randle and DiVincenzo.

The returns on that trade have not been great thus far, as the Timberwolves have somewhat struggled to a 27-23 record, which is good for seventh in the Western Conference.

Given that the T-Wolves lost to the NBA's worst team in the Wizards without Randle, playing winning basketball without him may prove to be a massive challenge.

Until Randle returns, Gobert, Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels will be tasked with most of the playing time in the frontcourt, and an even greater scoring burden will be placed on Edwards.

Since the NBA All-Star break begins late next week, Randle will have a week off without any games to heal, and Timberwolves are undoubtedly hopeful it will allow him to return in time for the Feb. 21 road game against the Houston Rockets followed by back-to-backs against the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.