Michael Rand: Anthony Edwards' injury will test whether Wolves have a true Big Three

Michael Rand, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Oct 27, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — The news that Anthony Edwards will miss up to two months because of a procedure on his troublesome right knee is a lot of things, but first and foremost it’s a bummer.

Let’s get that out of the way before we get into any second-guessing or possible silver linings.

It’s a joy to watch Ant play basketball, it was an emerging joy to watch him play with this particular version of the Timberwolves, and any games the Wolves spend without him on the court are inherently less enjoyable.

The Wolves look like they could have something special with this year’s team, still might in fact have something special with this team, but this is a detour to those plans.

The fact that Edwards needs surgery, though, is also a piece of peculiar timing on multiple fronts.

You might recall that Edwards dealt with a right knee issue last season. He missed 21 games, including 11 of the Wolves’ final 14 in the regular season, before returning for the playoffs. In the postseason, he made a dramatic comeback from a hyperextended left knee suffered during the Nuggets series.

So the first question is this: If this is the same issue, and it seems like it is, why not get surgery sometime soon after the Wolves were finished off by the Spurs on May 15 and be ready for the start of this year?

The Star Tribune reported that team sources said Edwards aggravated the injury in the season opener against the Heat, which perhaps answers that question.

And maybe we’ll get a clearer timeline Wednesday when the Wolves are expected to announce more details about what Edwards is facing.

But those who have observed Edwards through training camp have thought he never looked 100% and that he was still working through knee issues before the Miami game.

Still, it does make some sense to try to manage the issue before jumping to surgery.

What doesn’t make any sense in the context of what we know is why Edwards played 41 minutes Monday in Cleveland on the second night of a back-to-back and after showing up on the injury report as questionable because of that right knee.

That Edwards still scored 47 points against the Cavaliers and nearly willed the Wolves to a victory in Cleveland does not validate the fact that he played. It seems reckless in retrospect even if there was information gained from the exercise.

That game, too, brings us to the final piece of what this Edwards injury means: It’s an opportunity for a team that, good vibes or not, was already starting to lean a little too heavily on its star.

If viewed through both a practical and optimistic lens, Edwards’ injury might have a silver lining.

The Wolves have depth, but nobody else scored more than 14 in that Cleveland game, the first real close-game test after three confidence-inducing blowout wins to start the season.

Now we’ll find out if Jaden McDaniels and LaMelo Ball can carry a bigger load while Edwards is out and if they are really ready to be part of a Big Three when Edwards hopefully returns in December.

We’ve seen McDaniels do it for stretches in the past; he averaged almost 19 points last season in regular-season games Edwards didn’t play, but, for as good as McDaniels can be, he can at times still be deferential on offense.

Ball scored 21 in the opener against the Heat but hasn’t been over 15 in three games since then as he worked more as a facilitator. But he averaged more than 25 per game just two seasons ago in Charlotte and still more than 20 last season before the summer blockbuster trade that brought him here.

Of course, extending Ball too much brings up the specter of overuse and his own fraught injury history.

The Wolves seem poised to get through 25 or so games without Edwards. These aren’t the pre-Ant Wolves, who were fresh from the wreckage of the failed Jimmy Butler experiment and went 19-45 in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season before they got some lottery luck and picked Edwards No. 1 overall.

They’ve made the playoffs five years in a row and won five postseason series since he arrived, and there was genuine optimism building heading into Wednesday’s game against Golden State (during which Butler and Ant will both be sidelined on opposing teams).

This season can still be special. This detour might be remembered as a bummer with a silver lining when it’s all said and done if it means they’re even better when Edwards returns.

But no matter what, yeah, it is a bummer.