Anthony Edwards’ knee surgery is looking less like a delayed fix and more like a moving target.
That’s the clearest takeaway from Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who said the procedure could not have been handled in the offseason because the situation changed with the latest imaging.
“No, the imaging has changed in the most recent imaging,” Connelly said when asked if this could've been addressed in the offseason. “We've had a bunch of imaging since this summer, and it changed as of yesterday.”
“I think the imaging is different than the playoffs; it’s different than even it was a month ago,” Connelly added. “So, that’s how we came to this decision.”
Connelly also said the newest round of imaging came after the Cavs game, when Ant was feeling “a little bit different.”
That explanation matters because plenty of fans naturally questioned the timing. Edwards had already dealt with a hyperextended knee in the playoffs and then missed time late in the regular season because of knee inflammation. On the surface, it was fair to wonder why surgery wasn’t done months ago.
But Connelly’s comments make the picture clearer: the knee didn’t look the same then as it does now.
The timing also fits with what’s been reported around Edwards’ recent games. Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic noted that Edwards tweaked his knee against the Miami Heat. Edwards also showed up on the Wolves’ injury report against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and it appeared he aggravated the knee again during Sunday’s game against the Toronto Raptors.
What makes the whole stretch even more remarkable is how productive Edwards was through Minnesota’s first four games. He averaged 33.3 points and turned in two 40-point games, one against the Heat and one against the Cavs. Even so, he was leaning heavily on his jumper and didn’t quite have the same explosive burst fans are used to seeing.
There’s another important detail here: Edwards’ surgery is on his right knee, while the playoff injury was to his left knee. His knee inflammation last regular season, though, was on the right side.
So while the injury is still a brutal blow, the idea that Minnesota simply sat on the problem doesn’t fit the facts Connelly laid out. The Wolves believe the situation changed, the imaging changed, and the decision changed with it.
For a team that won an award for having the best medical staff in the league last season, that’s not the sort of call you dismiss lightly. And as Connelly made clear, the priority now is Edwards’ long-term health.
That doesn’t make the setback easier to take. It just explains why the surgery is happening now, not back in the summer.
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Minnesotas bigger concern now is the one hanging over Edwards availability, because the team may have to navigate the next stretch without its most important offensive engine. Even before that news settles in, the Wolves have an immediate on-court problem to clean up: their free-throw shooting has been uncharacteristically poor through four games, and it was part of what cost them against Cleveland. [Read more 🡒]