Anthony Edwards’ knee injury has done more than knock him out for about two months. It has also exposed another messy corner of the NBA’s salary structure.
Because Edwards is expected to miss the games needed to stay in the regular-season awards mix, he now falls short of the 65-game requirement that helps determine supermax eligibility. That matters because the supermax is worth $304 million over four years, while the standard max checks in at $337.6 million over five years. In annual terms, that’s a $9 million gap.
The strange part is how quickly the math can change around a player like Edwards. If he gets to 65-plus games next season, he’d be eligible for a supermax in 2028, with one year left on his contract. But the bigger issue is that he can be kept out of that money simply because he did not make an All-NBA team in two straight years.
That setup is hard to defend when you’re talking about a player of Edwards’ caliber. The Timberwolves would hand him a supermax without hesitation, and nobody around the league would blink.
He is a clear top-10 player, and in my estimation, he’s closer to the top five. If Minnesota thinks he’s worth that deal, the team should be allowed to make it.
The awards system is doing too much of the heavy lifting here, especially with the 65-game threshold acting as a gatekeeper. Last season, Edwards appeared in 61 games and was, at the very least, a top-10 player in those outings.
Before the 65-game rule came into play in the 2023-24 season, he would have been an easy All-NBA selection and would have earned a supermax this past summer. Instead, he came up four games short.
That’s where the rule starts to feel less like a smart safeguard and more like an arbitrary line in the sand. In theory, the idea makes sense: teams shouldn’t be forced to give supermax money to players who can’t stay on the floor.
But Edwards doesn’t fit that label. Until last season, he had never played fewer than 72 games.
There’s also the issue of how much weight voters are supposed to carry in a decision that has major financial consequences. Edwards played 61 games, but he also logged more than 200 additional minutes than Jalen Duren, who made the All-NBA Third Team.
And when money is on the line, players can end up pushing through injuries just to get to 65 games. That’s not a great outcome for anyone.
The bigger question is whether 100 media members should be the ones deciding who becomes eligible for which contracts. The answer here is no.
For Minnesota, the impact is real. One possibility is that this ends up helping the Wolves, at least financially, if Edwards takes the standard max instead. That deal is worth five percent less of the cap and could ease some of the pressure from second-apron complications and other cap problems.
Another path would be a shorter extension, giving Edwards more security now while leaving the supermax door open later. Jaden McDaniels signed a similar contract this offseason.
But the more likely effect is simply delay. Edwards being ruled out of supermax eligibility doesn’t make a future extension impossible, but it does make the process more complicated and his long-term picture less certain than it should be.
The basic point is hard to miss: the NBA’s current system for supermax eligibility is broken, and Edwards’ injury has put that flaw in plain sight.
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LaMelo Ball is about to get a different kind of Minnesota spotlight, one that usually comes with playoff-level scrutiny and very little room to breathe. The discussion around him has centered on how he handles physical perimeter defense, and the upcoming matchup offers a clean test for that part of his game, with the Wolves watching closely to see whether his shooting and playmaking hold up when the pressure ramps up.
Without Anthony Edwards in the mix, the defensive attention on Ball figures to be even sharper, which makes the matchup feel less like a routine regular-season night and more like a preview of the kind of resistance he would have to solve in a bigger setting. For Minnesota, the appeal is obvious: if Ball can keep creating against that sort of resistance, it strengthens the case that his game can translate when the stakes rise. [Read more 🡒]
LaMelo Ball Is Creating A Problem The Wolves Can't Afford Right Now
LaMelo Balls early run with Minnesota has come with a frustrating pattern the Timberwolves cant really ignore. Through the first seven games, foul trouble has followed him in six of them, cutting into his rhythm and limiting him to an average of 26 minutes a night at a time when the team is already trying to hold things together without Anthony Edwards.
The latest example came against the Spurs, when Ball was whistled early and never fully settled in. Minnesota needs his playmaking and energy on the floor, but the defensive lapses have kept undercutting that value, including a sequence against Victor Wembanyama that summed up the problem: too much contact, too little availability, and not enough margin for error right now. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Suddenly Look Like A Team To Watch In Trade Talks
Anthony Edwards injury is the latest jolt in what has already become a rough early stretch around the NBA, and it lands especially hard for Minnesota. With several All-Stars already dealing with major setbacks, including Jalen Williams season-ending leg injury, the leagues opening weeks have started to feel less like a clean evaluation period and more like a stress test for front offices trying to hold their plans together.
For the Timberwolves, the immediate concern is obvious: Edwards is central to everything they do, and any extended absence changes the tone of the season before it really settles in. Around the league, injuries of this size tend to ripple beyond the standings, and this one could have front offices watching the calendar a little more closely as November approaches and trade chatter starts to pick up. [Read more 🡒]