Kevin Love Out For Eight To Ten Weeks Following Hand Surgery

The Minnesota Timberwolves will be without Kevin Love for at least eight to 10 weeks. Love was told on Wednesday morning that surgery would be required on the right hand he broke for the second time this season.

The All-Star NBA player visited with a hand specialist in New York on Wednesday and shortly afterwards announced the extent of his injury. In a public statement, team officials wrote:

“The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced that after an examination by Dr. Andy Weiland, a hand specialist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, forward Kevin Love will require surgery to repair the third and fourth metacarpal in his right hand. He injured his hand during the third quarter of the Jan. 3 game at Denver.”

Kevin Love missed the first three weeks of the regular season for the Timberwolves after he broke the same hand during preseason play.

Love returned from his first injury faster than most experts believed he would return; however, last week while playing against Denver, he broke two bones in his frail shooting hand.

Before the injury, Love was averaging 18.3 points per game with 14 rebounds. Love was also a member of the USA men’s basketball Olympics team, which won the gold medal in the London Olympics.

The loss of Kevin Love couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Timberwolves just recently put Ricky Rubio back into rotation after an ACL recovery, and they are without Chase Budinger for at least 2 to 4 more weeks.

With Kevin Love out, do you think the Minnesota Timberwolves have a chance at the playoffs?