Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves is easily one of the best offensive big men in the NBA, but the 24-year-old has been out since mid-December with a knee issue, which has meant that he has been a vociferous cheerleader on the sidelines for his teammates.

On Thursday night, Timberwolves rookie Jarrett Culver got one of Towns’s biggest reactions of the night as he hammered a dunk home on Kent Bazemore of the Portland Trail Blazers.

After a slow start to the season, Culver has played well in Towns’s absence and has produced career-highs in various statistics of late, including points (24), steals (4) and three-pointers made (3).

The 20-year-old rookie is up to 8.9 points per game with 3.4 rebounds per contest and 2.0 assists along with some impressive perimeter defense for a rookie. The Timberwolves moved up from No. 11 to No. 6 in the 2019 NBA Draft to select Culver, so they are betting a decent amount on his future with the team.

Towns on the other hand still have no time table to return and remain a heavy candidate in trade rumors despite the Timberwolves' denial that they are even considering dealing the 24-year-old.

Follow ClutchPoints on Twitter & Instagram, and like us on Facebook. We can also be found on Flipboard where you can subscribe and follow us.

All of our NBA content can be found on the NBA section of the ClutchPoints home page here. For all of our college basketball content, click here.

Follow NBA games live by downloading the ClutchPoints App and heading to the scores tab under the NBA section.

You can listen and subscribe to the Battle for LA podcast on Apple PodcastsSpotify, and Soundcloud. You can also find new episodes of Battle for LA, the ClutchPoints NBA Podcast, and Establish the Pass under the Podcast tab on the ClutchPoints home page.