Anthony Edwards scored 47 points in an overtime loss at Cleveland on 26 October. Three days later, the Minnesota Timberwolves had him in an operating room.
The team confirmed the arthroscopic procedure on the eve of the surgery, which was performed the following day on the right knee that had been bothering him since late last season. Shams Charania reported the guard would miss up to two months.
Tim Connelly, the Wolves’ president of basketball operations, framed the decision as pre-emptive rather than ominous.
“Not something we are concerned with long term,” Connelly told reporters, saying the team expected Edwards to be “good as new” once the knee settled.
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Head coach Chris Finch admitted the staff had been caught off guard, calling the surgery decision “a bit of a shock to everybody”. Edwards had been averaging 33.3 points through the first four games of the season, a franchise-record 133 points across that opening stretch.
December is the target
The Wolves have not put a firm date on Edwards’ comeback. Internally, the hope is that he is back on the floor sometime in December, which would line up with the two-month window Charania laid out. A later return would push him closer to the turn of the year and cost him roughly 25 regular-season games.
An MRI the day after the Cleveland loss turned up previously undetected damage that the medical staff decided was worth addressing with a debridement procedure rather than managing through the schedule.
LaMelo Ball becomes the engine
The timing is awkward because Minnesota is already down a rotation guard. Donte DiVincenzo is out with a torn right Achilles sustained in last season’s playoffs, which leaves the backcourt leaning on LaMelo Ball, who joined the Timberwolves in June in a trade with Charlotte, and Ayo Dosunmu. Both have stepped into bigger offensive roles alongside Jaden McDaniels while Edwards recovers.
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The team is 3-1 heading into the next stretch of the schedule, a start that has bought Finch some margin before the Western Conference picture hardens.
Steve Kerr, whose Golden State Warriors ran into the Edwards-less Wolves soon after the news broke, offered sympathy more than strategy.
“I feel terrible for him. It’s just brutal for the league,” the Warriors head coach said.
Connelly said Edwards had taken the news hard but was committed to the recovery timeline the medical staff had set out.
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