Tragedy strikes the Timberwolves! They have been on fire recently, winning their last four games and climbing to the seventh spot in the West standings. And they headed into tonight’s Jazz clash hoping to continue that momentum. However, things took an unfortunate turn when Julius Randle was forced to leave the game due to a scary injury.

Well, the incident occurred in the opening minutes of the second quarter. Randle took a hard drive to the basket to score over a contesting Walker Kessler. Well, his effort paid off as the ball found the bottom of the net. But Julius landed awkwardly after the made basket and immediately began favoring his groin area, hinting that something was wrong. As the play continued, he struggled to run back on defense.

Sure enough, the forward subbed out seconds later and went straight to the locker room to assess the issue. Adding to the concerns, it was later reported that he would not return for the remainder of the game. With that call, Randle’s night ended early with only 6 points in ten minutes.

Obviously, this is a massive blow to the team because Julius has been in solid form, averaging 19.1 points and over seven rebounds. Sure, his numbers have taken a hit since he got traded to Minnesota. But he still brings a ton of versatility to the team’s offense. And the Wolves could struggle heavily without him. Of course, their fans were devastated by Big Ju’s tragic exit.

NBA World heartbroken after Julius Randle’s injury, Understand Adam Silver’s fandom for 10-minute quarters!

As the news of Randle’s injury broke out, fans could not believe it as comments like “OMGGG BRO I HATE THIS” and “NOOOO :(“ began flooding in. Well, he is arguably the Wolves’ second-best player behind Anthony Edwards, and him being out could put a massive halt on their momentum. Some fans already began thinking of an alternate strategy to make up for Randle’s absence as one wrote, “Need Rudy Gobert to lock in now.”

With Julius injured, the onus to protect the paint will fall on Gobert. While he has been decent so far, averaging 10.3 points and over ten rebounds, netizens want The Stifle Tower to step up even more and take matters into his own hands. Especially tonight, against the Jazz.

While most netizens were sympathetic toward Julius, one seemed unbothered by his injury, “Good he wasn’t getting no rebounds anyway.” Well, he left the game with only one rebound. Maybe, fans are not pleased with Randle’s performance so far because he hasn’t been playing at an All-Star level like he used to for the Knicks. Meanwhile, KAT is wreaking havoc in his new team and fans want JuJu to have the same impact for the Wolves.

Amid the rising concerns, one fan addressed a bigger issue that Randle’s injury exposed, “Injuries and blowouts is the virus of the NBA I see why Adam Silver is tryna make 10-minute quarters.” Yes, the league has been facing a major injury problem, especially with its star big men. Obviously, Joel Embiid is the prime example. Even Anthony Davis got injured a couple of days ago. And tonight, Randle joins the list. Maybe, that’s the reason Adam Silver recently revealed his preference about shortening the quarters to ten minutes. It will help contain the injury problem as players will be less fatigued because of shorter games. Do you think the NBA should implement this strategy to avoid incidents like tonight?