Wolves star Kevin Love breaks shooting hand, to miss 6-8 weeks

Minneapolis, MN, United States (4E Sports) – Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star forward Kevin Love would be out of action for six to eight weeks after breaking two bones in his right hand while working out at his condominium before Wednesday’s practice at Target Center.

According to the team, Love broke two bones – the third and fourth metacarpals – in his shooting hand. He will see Dr. Andy Weiland, a hand specialist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, Thursday for further evaluation.

With the incident, the Wolves will start the season Nov. 2 against the Sacramento Kings without Love and point guard Ricky Rubio, their two biggest stars. Rubio is recovering from surgery to repair two torn knee ligaments.

If he fully recovers in six weeks, Love will return around Dec. 1 or about 15 games into the season.

In 2009, Love broke a bone in his left hand while going for a rebound in a preseason game during his second NBA season. He missed the season’s first 18 games and returned Dec. 4 that year.

Love has been selected to the NBA All-Star Game in each of the past two seasons. He led the league in double-doubles (48), was second in minutes per game (39.0) and rebounds per game (13.3) and was fourth in scoring (26.0).

Without Love, Wolves coach Rick Adelman will shuffle either Derrick Williams or Andrei Kirilenko at power forward and insert Chase Budinger into the starting lineup at small forward.

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