The Minnesota Timberwolves received very bad news Saturday, announcing that guard Zach LaVine has suffered a torn ACL during Friday's loss to the Detroit Pistons and will undergo a season-ending surgery. Just in his third season, LaVine had started all 47 games he played and averaged a career-high 18.9 PPG as one of three Timberwolves players younger than age 22 scoring at least that many. He'll be turning 22 on March 10.

The surprising thing is, despite LaVine's prolific scoring, Minnesota might not miss him that much over the remainder of the season. According to ABCNews, the Timberwolves have won all three games that LaVine has been sidelined this season - by double digits - including impressive home wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets.

Still, when it comes to their aspirations of landing a playoff spot, having LaVine would be crucial. Many analysts think that without LaVine, the Timberwolves playoff push could take a huge hit.

Nonetheless, it would truly take a huge team effort from every Timberwolves player in order for them to fill in the void that LaVine has left and propelled themselves to the playoffs.

According to ESPN.com, an ACL tear is one of the more serious injuries that an NBA player would probably endure. Many players may have recovered from that injury, but judging by some, it will slow a player down when he does recover and starts playing again.

At just 21 years old, it's very unfortunate for LaVine to receive such injury. But while serious, a lot of players did manage to recover completely and played again like they were never injured in the first place. Still, the possibility that this injury will hamper LaVine's development only makes it more difficult for the Timberwolves to project how he will fit into their young core.

Already, LaVine's poor defense and overlap with Rubio meant that he might've been more suited for the role of 6th man; an instant offense off the bench (much like Jamal Crawford) than the starting shooting guard role.

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