Here’s Anthony Edwards’s ledger in the Minnesota Timberwolves’ first game after learning Karl-Anthony Towns had suffered a torn meniscus: 44 points, eight of which came in the final 80 seconds; three terrifying, breath-stopping landings, one of which came after a game-sealing block at the buzzer when he jumped the highest he had in his life; six rebounds; two steals; and a narrow 113-111 win over the Pacers, allowing the Timberwolves to breathe easy for a night and maintain their razor-thin perch atop the Western Conference.
If desperation is the mother of invention, Edwards is its father. Edwards, who incidentally has been dealing with the sleepless fog of early fatherhood, clocked into the locked in factory on time this time, and he injected Minnesota fans with the faith that Towns’s injury news had drained from them earlier in the day.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Towns will undergo surgery early next week and be reevaluated in four weeks, with the expectation that he’ll be able to return “in the early part of the postseason.”
Regardless of whom the Timberwolves face in the first round—the Lakers, Warriors, Kings, Mavericks, and Suns are all reasonably in play—the importance of facing inferior competition and, therefore, clinging to a top seed has been ratcheted up with the knowledge that Towns will likely still be working his way back from injury when the playoffs start. The Thunder are just a half game back from the Timberwolves, right on their heels. Just another half game back from the Thunder are the champs, who—speaking of working at the locked in factory—want to snag the no. 1 seed so badly they’re willing to skip a trip to the White House.
A week ago, the Timberwolves were tinkering with the everyday issues of a youthful defensive-minded contender: turnovers, inconsistency, and crunch-time execution. Now, the rest of the season will be defined by the same electrifying tension that played out in the final 80 seconds in Indiana. Without KAT, the Wolves cut it close against an inferior team. But Edwards’s ferocious will to win, his ability to morph into whatever the game demands, and his creativity and sense of invincibility pushed Minnesota over the top—while reminding you of the stakes of Towns’s recovery. Edwards, growing into his greatness, is the kind of player who could carry the Timberwolves to their first Finals berth. Towns is the kind of player they would need to win it.
The Wolves will now have to navigate a critical late-season stretch—including a rematch against the Clippers, three games against the Nuggets, and matchups against the Cavs, Lakers, and Suns—without their longest-tenured star. Beyond potentially losing the no. 1 seed, they are also at risk of losing critical opportunities to smooth out their wrinkles. As long as the Wolves are without Towns, they will also be without their most imposing structural advantage: the sheer size of their All-NBA frontcourt duo, which Tim Connelly put in place by trading most of Minnesota’s draft capital for Rudy Gobert two summers ago. The duo is such a defining part of the Wolves and their identity that it’s hard to even envision what this temporary iteration of Minnesota will look like.
The Wolves, with their two 7-footers on the floor, defend by way of shot suppression and rebounding, plodding down the floor on the other end. It’s tempting to suggest that Minnesota will simply lean harder into its defense by replacing Towns with Naz Reid—about as gifted a backup as one could ask for given the circumstances—but that would lead to smaller bench rotations. On Thursday, Kyle Anderson sufficed against the Pacers, but the Wolves will need help up and down the roster, too. Jaden McDaniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Edwards—all three elite perimeter defenders—will have to guard bigger players. Edwards, who shut down Jaren Jackson Jr. in a matchup against the Grizzlies last week, got more practice as a pseudo frontcourt defender (beyond the game-winning block) against Indiana:
On the bright side, playing a smaller, trappier, more frenetic style of defense—reminiscent of the Wolves’ style in the 2021-22 season, which led to a playoff berth—could allow them to create more turnovers and run the floor, generating easy baskets. The team will desperately need them as it tries to fill the 22-point-per-game hole that Towns leaves behind.
Against Indiana, the Wolves mostly finished the game with Anderson and Reid to bolster their offensive output. But it will be imperative for McDaniels to be consistently aggressive. With Towns out, chasing buckets could be a welcome habit change for the 23-year-old, who can be a little too beholden to the creation of his teammates. Can Mike Conley and Monte Morris, who trade stability for cold-hard production, ease Ant’s offensive burden?
The wording in Woj’s report, that Towns “committed to the immediate procedure because it gives him a chance to rehab and get back to the team for what’s turning into the best regular season in franchise history,” suggests that he had an option between fully repairing the meniscus and trimming the injured part off, which allows for a shorter recovery period but reduces the amount of cartilage present to absorb shock in the future.
For a player who has been derided for his lack of toughness in risking future injury, this is a hell of a bodily sacrifice—but it’s also par for the course for Towns, whose willingness to cede his lead role was instrumental in making this iteration of the Wolves possible. Until Gobert’s arrival, he’d never played a minute of power forward. He has since embraced that position, despite its negative impact on his offensive operating space. When Chris Finch was hired to replace Ryan Saunders, Towns’s close friend, less than a year after KAT had lost his mother and multiple relatives to COVID-19, the superstar called his new coach in the middle of the night and assured him he had his back. Towns, a former no. 1 pick miscast as a no. 1 option, has also embraced and championed the rise of Edwards.
Before the meniscus tear, it seemed as if Towns was finally starting to find his rightful role in the NBA and enjoy the spoils of the best Timberwolves season of his career after years of instability and suffering. This postseason should have been—and still could be, with some luck—an opportunity for Towns to wrestle free of his past reputation and prove what makes him so valuable. He has often been maligned for what he isn’t rather than celebrated for what he is. Maybe the only thing that can change that—beyond a deep playoff run, which currently hangs in the balance—is his absence.
