When Zach LaVine went down against the Detroit Pistons and left the game, no one knew that the Timberwolves season would be inextricably altered. LaVine’s season-ending injury essentially laid to rest most of our hopes of making a run for the 8th-seed (semantics from ownership aside), as LaVine was a key cornerstone of this team. Not to mention the Timberwolves schedule is significantly more difficult in the post-All Star break period.
However, this does provide the Wolves with a different sample of games to examine, as one of the prevailing theories about the team earlier in the season is that LaVine and Andrew Wiggins may be too problematic on defense to play together long-term.