As they did in the playoffs against the Denver Nuggets, the Timberwolves have to adjust to life without Anthony Edwards again. ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Tuesday that the star guard will miss a couple of months after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday.
This isn't the position Minnesota wanted to be in, certainly not after its electric start to the season, but the Timberwolves know they can still win without Edwards. They know that, even when the injuries pile up, they can push through. Who can they thank for that extra boost of confidence? Denver.
As Bones Hyland said on Wednesday, the Timberwolves have players who can step up, as we all (unfortunately) saw in the postseason.
Bones Hyland when asked about Minnesota playing without Anthony Edwards.
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) October 28, 2026
"We loaded, bro. We got a lot of talent on the team, lotta guys who can step in. Last year when we played the Nuggets, guys sat out from injuries and we stepped up." pic.twitter.com/iwnmTKL1IN
Being without Edwards for two months during the regular season will be different from having him miss time in the playoffs, but as Hyland pointed out, Minnesota has been in this position before. It helps, of course, that the Timberwolves have a better-constructed roster to withstand being without the guard than they did in last year's postseason.
They have LaMelo Ball, who can step into the No. 1 option role, as he did with the Hornets. He's averaging 14.8 points through Minnesota's first four games on 12.3 shots per game, which is down from his career average of 20.7 points on 17.5 attempts. The Timberwolves will need more from him, but they know that he can be that player. They also know they can rely on Jaden McDaniels.
The injury-depleted Timberwolves beat the Nuggets in the playoffs
Minnesota isn't running low on confidence, not even with Edwards sidelined. We saw it in the postseason when they were without him, Donte DiVincenzo, and Ayo Dosunmu. They had a next-man-up mentality then, and they can tap back into it to get through the regular-season grind until their star returns.
When they hit bumps in the road, as they inevitably will, they can refer back to what it was like to go up against Denver. Clearly, they're already doing that. Or maybe Hyland just wanted to take a shot at his former team. He wasn't wrong, though.
Seriously, though, the teams on the Timberwolves' schedule over the next several weeks know that playing Minnesota comes with challenges, even with Edwards sidelined. Denver understands that more than any other team, and the Nuggets aren't slated to play them until Dec. 28 (and again on Dec. 31), and it seems like there's a chance Edwards could be back by then.
That may not matter much, though. The Timberwolves have had the Nuggets' number, and that will continue if Denver plays with the same level of fight (or lack thereof) it did in the playoffs. Not to mention how they've looked at the start of the season, but that's another conversation.
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