Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels Ruled Out for First Night of Back-to-Back

Minnesota plays the 18-win Pacers Tuesday night before heading to Orlando for a game on Wednesday night.

Feb 2, 2026; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels (3) and guard Anthony Edwards (5) react during the fourth quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

With the regular season coming to a close this week, the Minnesota Timberwolves might be doing themselves a favor if they choose to hold Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels out of the lineup until the playoffs.

Minnesota announced Monday that Edwards and McDaniels, both of whom are battling knee injuries, will not play in Tuesday night's road game against the Indiana Pacers.

Edwards is dealing with patellofemoral pain syndrome in his right knee, while McDaniels has missed the last five games with what Wolves insider Jon Krawczynski likened to a bone bruise. The official term for McDaniels' injury, per the Wolves, is patella tendinopathy in his left knee.

Minnesota has gone 1-4 in five games without McDaniels. They won four of five games without Edwards, but they got destroyed at home by Detroit on March 28, which was the first game without McDaniels. Ayo Dosunmu also missed that game with a calf injury.

Edwards returned March 30 in a win over Dallas and then missed the next game four days later due to severe flu-like symptoms, according to Krawczynski. But his knee issue kept him sidelined against Charlotte (another home loss) on Sunday night.

"This is all just kind of part of injury management when you’re coming off an injury such as his," head coach Chris Finch said of Edwards on Sunday. "He remains day-to-day. This is kind of the day-to-day. I don’t think there’s any great concern for anything longer term. But we’re still in the uncertain phase."

Uncertain phase? Finch didn't elaborate, but he appeared to use the term to note that Edwards' status on a game-by-game basis is a bit unknown as he navigates the injury.

Our guess is that if these late-season games truly mattered and Minnesota wasn't virtually locked into the No. 6 seed, Edwards would be playing. He damn sure would be on the court with this injury if it were a playoff game.

Meanwhile, McDaniels appears on track to return for the playoffs, or perhaps at some point this week.

If there was ever a game where Minnesota could win without Edwards and McDaniels, it's Tuesday night against the Pacers. Indiana is 18-60, just one game better than the NBA-worst Washington Wizards.

The Wolves fly south to Florida for a game Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic, and then face teh Rockets in Houston on Friday night before wrapping up the regular season Sunday afternoon at home against the New Orleans Pelicans.