Timberwolves players and staff had just started getting loose on the Target Center court for a pregame walkthrough when they were summoned back to the locker room for an announcement.
The day was already off to a weird start with the traditional morning shootaround scrubbed after two players, Juancho Hernangomez and Ricky Rubio, were listed as out due to health and safety protocols. The team moved its pregame prep to two and a half hours before the scheduled tip, but when the call came to return to the locker room, everyone knew something was wrong. Their game against Memphis scheduled for Friday night had to be postponed, they learned, but the real shocker came when the team gathered around a speakerphone, sources told The Athletic.
Karl-Anthony Towns was on the other end of the phone. He had learned not long before that he had tested positive for COVID-19, and he wanted his teammates to hear the news from him. Every COVID-19 diagnosis has to be taken seriously…
