The Timberwolves will open training camp in Mankato, Minn., late this month without two centers, star Al Jefferson and veteran backup Jason Collins.
Jefferson, according to team officials, mildly sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during a pre-camp workout at Target Center on Tuesday. A medical imagining test conducted Wednesday determined the sprain, which is expected to sideline him two to three weeks. Camp begins Sept. 30, so Jefferson likely will miss the first week to 10 days of practice and perhaps the first two preseason games.
Collins is expected to miss all of the preseason and perhaps the regular season's opening weeks after he was injured in what a team spokesman called a "freak" golf-cart accident. He underwent surgery surgery in California to repair a partially ruptured triceps tendon in his left elbow after his golf cart skidded on wet ground and tipped over on Sept. 8.
The Wolves open the regular season on Oct. 29 at home against Sacramento.
Jefferson played one day with rookie Kevin Love -- the draft's No. 5 overall pick and Jefferson's new frontcourt mate -- and part of another morning session with him before he went down in pain after colliding with a teammate in a pickup game.
"It's always a concern when your best player goes down clutching his knee like he did," Wolves assistant general manager Fred Hoiberg said in a moment of understatement. "It was a relief when we found out it was a mild sprain."
Love just moved to town and joined his new teammates a few days before Jefferson was injured.
"We'll be able to jell quickly," Love said when asked how Jefferson's injury might set back the pair's on-court relationship. "I'm hoping for a speedy recovery for him. We'll need him."
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