Anthony Edwards left Sunday night’s Minnesota win against Indiana after just three minutes with what was described at the time as “hamstring tightness.” He returned to the bench in street clothes (and sunglasses) to hype up his teammates during the win.
Get used to that view of Edwards in street clothes for a couple of weeks. He has been diagnosed with a hamstring strain and will miss at least the next two weeks — eight games at a minimum — reports Shams Charania of ESPN. Edwards is now listed as out for Minnesota’s game against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets on Peacock NBA Monday tonight.
This is a rare occurrence — Edwards has been incredibly durable, missing just three games in each of the last three seasons (Minnesota went 5-4 in those games), and has never missed more than six games in a row in his career. That’s about to change and be a real test for Minnesota. It’s also a serious blow to the Timberwolves’ offense, Edwards averaged 36 points in the first two games this season, and seemed to be taking a step forward as the hub of the team’s actions.
Minnesota got the win without Edwards on Sunday thanks to Julius Randle stepping up with 31 points, and the Wolves will need more than that. In the second half, with Edwards out, coach Chris Finch went to his veteran and started Mike Conley in his spot. We’ll see if that continues going forward (Finch could go big with Naz Reid, but likes him coming off the bench, he had 16 points and 10 rebounds against the Pacers).