Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns was ruled out in advance of Wednesday's contest against the Milwaukee Bucks, the T'Wolves announced on Tuesday.

Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic reported on Tuesday that Towns will continue to ramp up the on-court activity as he recovers from a left knee sprain:

Towns is starting to do some on-court work as he prepares for a return. Saunders has not put a timetable on it but has said that he is progressing. Whenever he does come back, the Wolves are hoping that the time spent watching Dieng and Vonleh perform on the defensive end will help the light bulb come on for him in that department.

The absence will mark Towns' eight consecutive inactive.

Though he has drawn plenty of “questionable” designations over the past week or so, he has yet to progress to playing shape. The waters got even murkier with reports surfacing on Monday that Towns was unhappy in Minnesota, though Krawczynski noted that the sources referenced in Ethan Strauss' report were not in any way affiliated with Towns or his camp.

In fact, Krawczynski noted that Towns has repeatedly stressed that the Timberwolves have to trust the process:

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“We all can’t rush in and think we’re going to win 75 games right now,” he said. “We have to take it day by day. We have to be patient with the process and accept the process and go through the cycles. I think we’re going to have a really good team and we have to go out there every single night and try to accomplish it. My job as a leader, I’ve got to get the best out of every single player.”

Through all the smoke and mirrors, the fact is Towns' injury is providing to be more of a hassle than originally anticipated.

The Wolves must exhibit some patience of their own as they wait for their star center to return.