Anthony Edwards was upgraded to questionable on the Minnesota Timberwolves’ injury report Sunday evening, further indication he is pushing to get into this second-round series against the San Antonio Spurs as quickly as possible. He suffered a hyperextension of his left knee in Game 4 of Minnesota’s first-round series against the Denver Nuggets, missing the final two-plus games.
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Edwards has been laying the groundwork for a faster-than-expected return since he went down in Game 4, but he ramped it up Sunday when his team posted a video to his YouTube channel titled “Don’t count me out.”
The nine-minute video gave an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at his recovery. It includes footage of him playing in the first four games of the Denver series while dealing with his right knee soreness. At one point after Game 1, his friend and business partner Tre McCain asked him how he was feeling.
“It’s the playoffs,” Edwards told him. “I’ll go out (there) on one leg if I have to.”
The piece also includes interviews with David Hines, Timberwolves vice president of medical operations and performance, and Robby Sikka, who was a prominent figure on the Wolves staff during Edwards’ first two seasons in the league and has maintained contact with Edwards since he departed.
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“We call him Wolverine. … Certain things you see other players might not be able to play through, those are injuries that Ant has been able to recover quickly from,” Hines said.
Sikka detailed several of the injuries Edwards has endured this season, including a hamstring injury and a toe infection that bothered him earlier this year. Sikka said “there’s nobody like him that I’ve been around in my professional career” when it comes to his ability to come back from injury.
“This kid’s battling through pain in his knee, and he’s been battling all season because he wants to play, because he wants to win, because he wants to represent the city, because he wants to bring a championship here,” Sikka said.
Edwards has been doing around-the-clock treatment on his injured left knee, and he has told teammates he plans on returning at some point in the series, team sources told The Athletic.
That backs what Wolves coach Chris Finch said before Game 5 of Minnesota’s series against the Nuggets when he said that if the Wolves could extend their playoff run beyond the first round, “we will be lucky enough to get him back.” Finch said Saturday after practice that Edwards’ “week to week” designation has not changed. The team has not issued an official timeline for his return, making it all but impossible for him to play in Game 1 on Monday.
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Edwards was on the court after practice Saturday getting some shots up, but he did not participate in practice. He suffered a hyperextension and a bone bruise in his left knee in Game 4 against the Nuggets and did not play in the final 2 1/2 games of the series. Everyone is preparing to see him at some point this round, though.
“Anytime you can get someone that’s been hurt back, especially Ant, just the gravity that he carries, even him just being on the court will help us out a lot,” forward Jaden McDaniels said. “Whenever he’s ready, I told him we’re going to hold it down until he gets ready.”
Edwards has been dealing with knee issues for more than a month. The inflammation in his right knee caused him to miss 11 of the final 14 games of the regular season and was hampering him early in the series against Denver. He injured his left knee in Game 4 after trying to block a shot from Cam Johnson. Many feared the injury could have been much worse than it actually was.
Team sources have told The Athletic that Edwards has been communicating to teammates his plans to join them at some point in this series. The teams play every other day through the first five potential games of the series. There will be two days off between games 5 and 6 if that is necessary. Game 2 is Wednesday in San Antonio. The series shifts to Minnesota for Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday.
The Timberwolves are expected to have a shootaround Monday morning ahead of Game 1 against San Antonio. Edwards will likely go through a workout to test his knee before they make any further determination on his status.