Why Anthony Edwards' Injury May Not Be the Worst Thing for the Wolves

The Timberwolves are Anthony Edwards' team. There is no question about that. He is their best player, their alpha. Both this season and beyond, they will go as far as he can take them.

So the fact that Edwards will miss at least a week or two due to right knee inflammation is less than ideal, especially with the Wolves in a battle for Western Conference playoff seeding during the final month of the regular season. Making a push up the standings without the NBA's third-leading scorer is going to be a difficult task.

And yet, a case can be made that Edwards missing a little bit of time right now actually isn't the worst thing. Calling it a "blessing in disguise" might be going too far. But if you squint, there could be some positives to come out of this as the Wolves prepare to head into the postseason.

The first, most obvious one is that Minnesota needs Edwards at full strength to have a chance to win a first-round series in the West, much less make it back to the conference finals for a third straight year. They don't stand much of a chance if Ant is hobbled, as he has been at times this season due to minor hamstring, foot, and knee ailments. The decision to shut him down for a short period and allow him to get healthy makes a lot of sense, even if it puts the Wolves' seeding at risk.

The other, broader component to Edwards' absence is the ripple effect it could have on the rest of the roster. Without their ball-dominant lead guard who scores nearly 30 points a game, secondary players have to step up. There are suddenly a lot more shot attempts to go around. And for a roster with several players that had been slumping to some extent, necessity might foster improvement.

We saw some of that play out in Tuesday night's big win over the Suns at Target Center. Julius Randle, who temporarily steps into Edwards' shoes as the Wolves' No. 1 option, had his second straight strong outing with 32 points and 7 rebounds (though he did have 6 turnovers). In 12 games this season without Edwards, Randle has averaged 27.3 points on 53 percent shooting. Before these last two games, he had been ice cold since the All-Star break.

Jaden McDaniels, also mired in a bit of a tough stretch lately, scored 16 points for the Wolves. Ayo Dosunmu put up 19 in his first start with Minnesota. Bones Hyland was huge with 22 points and 5 assists off the bench. Every member of the Timberwolves' eight-man rotation contributed to the victory — even Donte DiVincenzo, who brought energy and made hustle plays despite going scoreless for just the second time this season.

Again, the Wolves are not remotely a better team without Edwards, even if they're 8-4 in games he misses (including the Pacers game where he played only 3 minutes) and 34-23 when he plays. Four of those eight Ant-less wins have come against the ten current non-playoff teams. However, when Edwards is out, the Wolves go from two ball-dominant players to just one. Randle is also a more proven playmaker than Edwards. Out of necessity, ball movement tends to increase.

The best-case scenario is that Ant's absence jolts some of the Wolves' key players to life and fosters a commitment to an aggressive, balanced style of offense. Then, when Edwards gets healthy and returns, the commitment to that style remains in place. For the Wolves to reach their ceiling as a team, they have to be so much more than a one-man show.

Tuesday night was a good start that got Minnesota some much-needed separation from Phoenix in the standings. The Wolves will look to keep it going on Wednesday night against a tanking Jazz team that has gone 10-38 in the last three months.