Timberwolves Karl-Anthony Towns, out since Nov. 28, to return

After missing nearly four months with a Grade 3 calf strain, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns plans to return for Wednesday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, he told ESPN.

Towns will do a final check before the game, but he said he expects to play for the first time since Nov. 28.

“I’m super excited to get back out on the court and help my team because these next nine games are super important,” Towns said.

Minnesota (36-37) is currently in ninth place in the Western Conference standings.

Towns said he doesn’t anticipate any restrictions once he’s back despite the lengthy rehabilitation process he’s been through over the past four months.

“I’m just trying to pick up where I left off,” Towns said. “I was telling my dad right before I got hurt, I felt the most complete as a player in my career. From defensive end, from offensive end, from a mental aspect, leadership aspect … I felt very complete.”

Towns, who suffered the injury in a game vs. the Washington Wizards, said a Grade 3 calf sprain “is really just a tear.”

“When you have a torn calf, that’s a significant one,” Towns said. “It takes time. And being my size, you don’t want it to become like KD in Golden State.”

Durant suffered a right calf strain in May 2019 and missed more than a month before returning in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, during which he fell to the court after rupturing the Achilles tendon in the same leg.

Initially Towns thought he’d be out a couple of months, but he suffered “a major setback” six weeks into the rehabilitation process that essentially sent him back to the beginning of the process.

“The return is imminent, and then boom,” Towns said. “Do a little too much. It just in essence, retore. And now we’re back at square one again.”

Rehabilitation took longer the second time around. Towns wore a boot on his lower leg for months. Occasionally blood would pool in the area where the muscle had torn and he’d have to have it drained.

“It wouldn’t heal unless we drained it,” Towns said. “I still have pictures of the syringe they used to take it out.”

The hardest part was not being able to watch games from the bench.

“Because of the blood and everything, I can’t have my leg laying out like that,” Towns said. “One time we tested it. I was in the tunnel so the fans didn’t see me. But in the 15 minutes I was standing there with the boot on, my legs were so sore. I was hurting so much, I was like, ‘I got to go in the back’ [and] put my leg up. Was watching the game. So…