Timberwolves say Jimmy Butler has meniscus injury; no timetable for return

The Wolves announced Saturday afternoon that Jimmy Butler – who hurt his right knee in the third quarter of Friday’s loss in Houston – has an injury to the meniscus cartilage in the knee.

Team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Diane Dahm of Mayo Clinic evaluated the MRI, which was taken after the Wolves – delayed by airplane problems Friday night – finally returned to the Twin Cities on Saturday.

The team has not yet announced what this prognosis means, in terms of whether Butler will require surgery or if his season is over.

Still, it is a more optimistic prognosis than a torn anterior cruciate ligament would have been.

What remains clear is that Butler, at the very least, will be out for an extended period. And that means the Wolves will have to survive – indeed thrive – without him in order to stay a factor in the NBA’s Western Conference playoff race.

Entering Saturday’s game with Chicago at Target Center, the Wolves were in a virtual tie with San Antonio for third in the conference. But, in an extremely tight race for playoff position in the West, the Wolves were just two games ahead of No. 8 New Orleans and just three games ahead of the No. 9 L.A. Clippers.

Add to that a schedule that has the Wolves facing teams currently in playoff position in nine of their final 19 games. That stretch includes two games against Denver, and games against Portland, Boston, Golden State, Washington, San Antonio and Houston.

The Wolves are 2-6 in games Butler has missed this season.

It’s clear that the Wolves will need Andrew Wiggins to step up his scoring, something he has already done when Butler has missed games. The Wolves, already with a rather thin bench, will have to get more out of its roster from the likes of Jamal Crawford, Nemanja Bjelica and Tyus Jones.

Butler missed two games in October with an illness, and the Wolves suffered blowout losses to Indiana and Detroit on back-to-back nights, with Shabazz Muhammad inserted into the starting lineup.

With that same right knee aching, Butler missed four games in January. This time coach Tom Thibodeau put Bjelica into the starting lineup, and the Wolves went 2-2 in those games. Minnesota beat Toronto at home on Jan. 20, with Wiggins scoring 29 points. They then beat the Clippers in Los Angeles with Wiggins getting 40. The Wolves then lost at Portland and at Golden State.

But in those four games Wiggins averaged 25.7 points, shooting 50 percent from the field. Bjelica scored in double figures in two of those four games.

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