Minnesota Timberwolves guard D’Angelo Russell will undergo arthroscopic surgery Wednesday to remove a loose body in his left knee and is expected to miss four-to-six weeks, the team announced Tuesday.
Russell had missed Minnesota’s previous three games with what the team said was a sore left leg. Ricky Rubio has started in his place.
Russell was averaging 19.3 points and 5.1 assists in 20 games (19 starts) this season for the Western Conference-worst Timberwolves, who are 7-20 overall entering Tuesday night’s matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Russell’s absence from the Wolves lineup comes a year after the team acquired him via trade with the Golden State Warriors.
The Wolves were looking for a point guard to pair with All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, but the two have played just five games together since the deal — once during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season and four times this season, as Towns was sidelined 13 games after testing positive for COVID-19. Minnesota went 2-3 in those five games.
Towns and Russell were selected first and second, respectively, in the 2015 NBA draft.
Also Tuesday, the Timberwolves said forward Jarrett Culver, who suffered a left ankle sprain last month, has been cleared to resume on-court activities and could play by late next week.
