Zach LaVine Injury Update: Timberwolves Star to Have Season-Ending Knee Surgery

The Minnesota Timberwolves announced Saturday that guard Zach LaVine will miss the remainder of the 2016-17 season after an MRI revealed a torn ACL in his left knee.

LaVine suffered the injury during Friday night's 116-108 loss to the Detroit Pistons. The initial diagnosis was a left knee contusion, according to the Star Tribune's Jerry Zgoda. However, additional testing Saturday revealed the season-ending tear.

His surgery has yet to be scheduled, according to the team.

Prior to the injury, LaVine had emerged as the Timberwolves' third-leading scorer behind Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns—who tweeted his reaction to the news shortly after it became official: 

In 47 appearances, the 21-year-old averaged a career-high 18.9 points per game on 45.9 percent shooting from the field and 38.7 percent shooting from three-point range.

LaVine was also a member of Minnesota's most frequently used lineup, which featured Wiggins, Towns, Ricky Rubio and Gorgui Dieng. That five-man unit played 880 minutes together.

By comparison, the lineup head coach Tom Thibodeau has deployed at the second-highest rate has logged 159 minutes this season.

In other words, the Timberwolves will have to come up with solutions on the wing to fill the gaping void left by LaVine's absence.

Shabazz Muhammad and Nemanja Bjelica project as the most ready-now solutions. However, Minnesota could conceivably use rookie Kris Dunn in smaller backcourt pairings to give the Timberwolves an injection of defensive energy.

Stats courtesy of NBA.com.