2020 NBA schedule: The 12 most important games of the restarted regular season

The Orlando Magic have signed free agent center Goga Bitadze.

Bitadze (6’11”, 230, 7/20/99) has played in 21 games this season with Indiana, averaging 3.3 ppg. and 2.3 rpg. in 9.6 minpg., while shooting .519 (27-52) from the floor. He led (or tied) the Pacers in rebounding once.

Originally selected in the first round (18th overall) of the 2019 NBA Draft by Indiana, Bitadze has played in 170 career NBA regular season games (21 starts), all with the Pacers, averaging 4.8 ppg. and 2.8 rpg. in 11.5 minpg.

Karl-Anthony Towns hasn’t played in a game since late-November but is finally closing in on a return game action. For Towns, that return can’t come soon enough, after going through a rehab he says he “hated every moment of”.

“I feel good there is a day (coming),” Towns said. “There’s a time. I’ve been in the darkness of the tunnel and trying to figure out where I’m going. It’s good to know that there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.”

Towns suffered a Grade 3 tear of his right calf in the Wolves loss at the Washington Wizards on November 28th. Towns said his calf was 95% torn and that speculation of a four-to-six-week return was always way off.

The Timberwolves All-Star big man also said that he suffered a “major setback” in January during his recovery.

“It was obvious. You have a boot one day, then you’re out of a boot and now you’re back in a boot. That’s a setback,” he said, declining to say what specifically happened. “I think there will be a time and place to talk about that. But not right now.”