SAN ANTONIO — Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards is planning to play in Game 1 of their second-round series against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, team and league sources tell The Athletic, a stunningly quick return to action after he hyperextended his left knee in Game 4 of the team’s first-round matchup with the Denver Nuggets.
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Edwards has been ramping up his workouts over the past two days and pushing to rejoin the team, and the plan is to activate him, sources said. He was present at the team’s shootaround Monday morning, giving his knee one final test before it was determined he could play.
The Timberwolves are heavy underdogs against the Spurs, but getting Edwards back will boost the team’s spirits almost as much as its chances to defeat the No. 2 seed in the West.
“It’s great,” Wolves forward Julius Randle said at shootaround. “He’s one of the best players in the world. What he does on the court, his personality, his leadership is big for our team. Whenever we can get him out there, we’re going to be excited about it.”
The Wolves have been trying to keep their preparations close to the vest ahead of the second round. It is common practice for their starters to wear gray jerseys and the second unit to wear blue jerseys during shootaround. However, when reporters were allowed in the arena Monday morning, Edwards was not wearing a jersey and Mike Conley was wearing starters’ colors. It is possible that Edwards could come off the bench as a way of managing his minutes.
Edwards was injured when he tried to block a shot from Denver’s Cam Johnson in Game 4 on April 25. His knee buckled as he landed, causing great concern within the organization that he had suffered a catastrophic injury. But an MRI revealed a hyperextension and a bone bruise, the best-case scenario for the injury.
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“We dodged a bullet,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said last week.
In the initial days after the injury, Edwards was told it would take a minimum of two weeks before he could think about playing again, league sources told The Athletic. But Edwards wasn’t hearing it. He started rehabbing as quickly as possible, working in a pool to reduce the impact, talking to specialists and team medical personnel about the best courses of action and even using a hyperbaric chamber over the last few days, something he had been reluctant to do earlier in his career.
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Edwards did not attend Minnesota’s series-clinching home win over the Nuggets in Game 6 because he was working so hard on the treatments for his knee. By the time the weekend arrived, he was starting to feel as if returning for the series opener in San Antonio could be possible.
On Sunday, his team posted a video to Edwards’ YouTube channel entitled “Don’t Count Me Out” that detailed his injury and recovery. The message was clear: He was not going to let the injury keep him from returning to these playoffs.
Edwards’ rapid return to action follows his history of speedy recoveries.
“I just remember last year, being here at the beginning of the year, and he would take a nasty fall or a hit or whatever,” Randle said. “We might have to call a timeout, and you’re like, ‘Damn, he might be hurt for real.’ Then he just gets up. I’m not surprised. He loves to play the game, so he’s going to do whatever he can to put himself in position to be out here.”
Conley was one of many teammates who were not surprised to see Edwards pushing to get back on the floor. Edwards relishes a challenge, and few are bigger than Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.
“I expected him this week, sometime, regardless,” Conley said. “But I’ve seen him over the last four or five days doing rehab and trying to get in the gym, and it was like, ‘Man, this dude, he’s trying to play.’ So we expect him to compete. You know, he loves competing, and that’s all he wants to do. So, we’re happy to have him when he’s ready. Hopefully, he’ll be ready to go.”
Wolves guard Ayo Dosunmu has been ruled out for Game 1. He is still dealing with a right calf issue that kept him out of Game 6 against Denver and has been bothering him since the end of the regular season. Dosunmu was in uniform at shootaround Monday morning and left the arena with an ice bag on his calf.
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Edwards has also been dealing with inflammation in his right knee for the last month. There is hope that the time he took off to help his left knee recover will also put his right knee in a better spot.
There are certainly risks involved with such an aggressive timeline. When he takes the court in Game 1, it will be nine days since the injury. Playing through pain can lead to other injuries as the body compensates, but Edwards is not concerned. Timberwolves doctors and athletic trainers have been examining him closely, and they cleared him Sunday for contact and on-court work. All indications are that if Edwards feels ready to play, the team will clear him to return Monday against the Spurs.
He was expected to go through a workout before Game 1 for one final test to ensure both knees feel good to go.
“The fact that he had the kind of injury he had, and you look at him a week later and he’s doing things he was doing before,” Conley said. “It was pretty amazing how fast it’s gotten to that point. So I think that’s the biggest thing.”