Kevin Martin has been a bright spot for the Timberwolves this season, playing consistently well offensively to where he’s been their second leading scorer behind Kevin Love.
Minnesota has struggled to stay healthy, and is already without big man Nikola Pekovic, who’s out with an ankle injury until at least the All-Star break. Things got exponentially more difficult when the news about Martin broke before the team tipped off at home against the Blazers on Saturday.
From Mark Remme of Timberwolves.com:The Timberwolves announced just before pregame on Saturday night that shooting guard Kevin Martin suffered a broken left thumb and will be sidelined indefinitely. The release said an update will be provided at an appropriate time.
Martin took an X-ray this morning at TRIA Orthopedics in Bloomington, which revealed a non-displaced fracture of the distal phalanx in his left thumb. The injury happened in the final minutes of last night’s 98-91 loss to the Pelicans in New Orleans.
Love was out of Saturday’s contest as well with what was being described as a left quad contusion.
The Timberwolves were supposed to compete for a playoff spot in the West this season, but it’s tough without a full complement of the team’s best players. Minnesota is just five and a half games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference, so theoretically there’s still time if the team can get healthy and put together a run in the second half of the season.
Martin is averaging 19.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 32.3 minutes per contest.
