The Minnesota Timberwolves were dealt a serious blow Wednesday when they lost All-Star power forward Kevin Love for at least six to eight weeks with a broken hand.
According to ESPN on Wednesday, Love, 24, a two-time All-Star who led the league in rebounds with 15.2 per game in 2011, broke his hand during a morning workout before practice.
The team confirmed that Love broke both the third and fourth metacarpals in his shooting hand.
Love is scheduled to see Dr. Andy Weiland, a hand specialist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York on Thursday for further evaluation, the Minnesota-based Star Tribune reported Wednesday.
The injury could not come at a more inconvenient time for the Timberwolves. With their regular season tip off scheduled for Nov. 2 against the Sacramento Kings, the injury to Love-one of their two biggest stars- comes as a critical blow for the Wolves, already without star point guard Ricky Rubio.
The sensational Spanish point guard is on the shelf with a torn ACL he sustained in a game against the Lakers late last season.
If the prognosis stands, it would mean that the earliest Love could return to the team is by December.
Love, a 6 foot-10-inch former standout from UCLA who led the Bruins to a No. 1 national ranking in 2008, averaged 26.0 points and 13.2 rebounds for the Wolves last season which led his team in both categories.
In January, Love signed a four-year, $60 million deal with the Wolves before heading to London where he helped a star-studded Team USA take the gold medal in the Summer Olympics.
Ironically enough, prior to training camp in October, ESPN reported that Love was feeling good about the Timberwolves' chances if they could stay healthy.
"We have a great training camp and we can get off to a good start and guys stay healthy, there's really no telling what we can do," Love previously told ESPN. "I know a lot of teams in the Western Conference have loaded up, but I still feel we can knock those teams off and have a really good year."
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