The latest Anthony Edwards injury news is a tough one for Minnesota. The Timberwolves star will undergo an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee and could miss up to two months, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Arthroscopic surgery is a minimally invasive procedure where doctors work through small incisions using a tiny camera to repair or clean up the inside of a joint. Recovery is usually much shorter than a major reconstruction, which lines up with the timeline being reported. If Edwards needs the full two months, he would be out until around the end of December. The Timberwolves have not released their own statement on the procedure yet.
That right knee has been a problem for a while. Edwards played through soreness in it, diagnosed as runner’s knee, through the end of last regular season and into the playoffs. Then in Game 4 of Minnesota’s first round series against Denver, he went up to contest a drive by Cameron Johnson, landed awkwardly and hyperextended his left knee. An MRI showed a bone bruise, the team listed him as week to week, and he missed the rest of the series.
Heading into the summer, the Wolves made it clear surgery was not part of the plan. Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said the approach was rest. “No surgery, just some rest, don’t touch a ball for a while, and I think he’ll come back like he does every year, a better version of himself,” Connelly said.
Edwards said at the start of training camp that he took about two months off to let his knee heal, and that it was still sore even after that before treatment got him right. In the opening weeks of this season, the right knee started giving him problems again, and the procedure Minnesota avoided over the summer is now happening anyway.
This Anthony Edwards injury leaves the Timberwolves without the player who drives nearly everything they do on offense. Minnesota will have to hold its spot in a crowded Western Conference while its franchise star recovers, with the hope that fixing the knee now means Edwards is fully healthy for the stretch run and the playoffs.
