Anthony Edwards Is Still Finding Ways to Help Timberwolves Despite Injury

The initial news that Anthony Edwards would miss at least two months for the Minnesota Timberwolves came seemingly out of nowhere and hit the team and the fanbase with a thud.

The Wolves were on a euphoric 3-1 start to the season, and there were plenty of questions about what the team would look like without Edwards and how the injury would impact the Timberwolves’ future both this season and beyond.

Since then, the Timberwolves have put all those fears to rest. They are 6-2 without Edwards in the lineup, the offense has come together nicely, with LaMelo Ball leading the way, and they are first in both defensive and net rating in the NBA.

While Edwards is currently unable to contribute on the court, he is still a fundamental part of the team’s current success.

Edwards is back around the team

After successfully getting arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and beginning the rehab process, Edwards is now back with the team at the team’s practice facility and at Target Center during home games.

Edwards was in attendance for Sunday’s 115-100 win over the Utah Jazz and could be heard laughing and joking around with his teammates in the training room. At the practices that followed, Edwards was crutching around the facility

During games, Edwards is not sitting on the bench out of an abundance of caution to prevent a player from crashing into him. Instead, Edwards watches much of the game from inside the Wolves’ player tunnel behind their bench.

When the Timberwolves are on the road, Edwards’ presence is still felt, mostly in the team’s group chat. Edwards has been in constant communication with his team over text, pumping them up and letting them know where they need to improve.

“Even though he’s not here, he’s here,” Jaylen Clark explained. “In the group chat, he texts his messages before games, his own little scouting report… He’ll go person by person. Tell exactly what he wants, what he needs out of everybody.”

The Timberwolves’ camaraderie as a team has been starkly different from the past few seasons. All the players seem to get along well and genuinely love playing the game together. That starts with Edwards, and whether or not he is actually out on the court, his energy has been infectious.

“Ant is the best teammate to have; he supports you through everything,” Terrence Shannon Jr. said. “He’s going to laugh with you, make jokes, all the above. Just everything he knows about a player going into a game, he’ll tell us. He’ll tell us about damn near every player on the roster. It’s really good for real.”

Through these first three weeks of the season, Timberwolves players themselves have consistently brought up how much the cohesion of the roster has fueled their stellar play to begin the season.

“I think it starts in the locker room; I’m not gonna lie,” Bones Hyland stated after the team’s 39-point rout of the Dallas Mavericks. “I think winning starts in the locker room. The high-energy vibes. We’re just all on one accord. Ant being in the locker room after the games, in practices, even in the locker room, I think are juices is always high, that translates to winning, for sure.”

Edwards’ growth as the Timberwolves’ leader

It would have been incredibly easy for Edwards to disconnect and focus on his own rehab during this time out of the lineup. That’s not the type of player he is though. Edwards has always been well in-tuned to what his teammates need and how to pump them up best.

That aspect of who Edwards is has only grown in the past few weeks since the injury diagnosis. His ability to see teammates and meet them where they are emotionally speaks to the type and quality of leader Edwards is now and will be down the road when he returns to the court.

When the Timberwolves traded Karl-Anthony Towns on the eve of training camp in 2024, Edwards was thrust into being the team’s primary vocal leader. Previously, that person was Towns, a role Edwards happily relinquished even as he became the undisputed best player on the team.

Initially, Edwards seemed uncomfortable becoming the team’s primary leader. In the years since, Edwards has blossomed into the exact personality the Timberwolves have needed. Something that has not gone unnoticed by his head coach.

“It’s grown in just so many ways,” Chris Finch shared about Edwards’ leadership. “He’s found his voice in the last two seasons, and then he’s found the right messaging within that. I think he realizes that leadership comes with the responsibility of holding yourself accountable to a different standard. I saw that all through training camp and in the first week of the season.”

Edwards now embraces his status as the leader of the locker room. From the team’s trip to Paris to visit Rudy Gobert this summer to all of the offseason workouts through training camp, Edwards has set the tone for who he wants this team to be while being one of the most charismatic and fun-loving players on the team.

“He loves his team,” Finch said. “His personality is still infused through the team, there’s no doubt about it.”

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