All Minnesota Timberwolves fans just had the same reaction when the gut-wrenching Shams Charania notification appeared. As reported by Shams, Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on his right knee, and he'll miss up to two months.
We've known that his knee has bothered him since the latter part of last season, and quite frankly, without a direct reason reported yet, why he didn't have this procedure over the offseason is mind-boggling.
Nevertheless, the Wolves will be without their franchise guy until likely some time in December.
It's certainly a tough situation, but not all hope is lost. The Wolves have an immensely talented roster, and they're specifically deep at the combo guard position. There's no replacing what Edwards does, but they have the talent to win games and stay afloat while they wait for him to get back.
LaMelo Ball, Jaden McDaniels, it's time to lead the way
Wolves fans should be thanking god that Tim Connelly pulled off the trades and signings that he made this offseason, because otherwise the Wolves would be in a much different spot. LaMelo Ball is still an All-Star-caliber point guard, and Jaden McDaniels said himself that he hopes to become one. Well, now's his chance.
Slotting into Edwards' spot for the time being is likely Terrence Shannon Jr. Usually, it would be Ayo Dosunmu, but having Dosunmu's stabilizing presence off the bench as the Wolves' sixth man is extremely valuable. Also, Shannon has been playing some of his best basketball of his NBA career to start the season.
We saw in the playoffs last season against the Denver Nuggets that Shannon is a player who is incredible at scaling up his role. Throughout his college career, he was a primary scoring option on his team, so he knows how to handle the high usage. He'll need to replicate the Nuggets' series production over this next month-plus, and he's certainly equipped for it.
This will also be McDaniels' chance to become a true 20-point-per-game scorer as the undisputed second option on offense while Edwards is out. He, like Shannon, has improved his scoring greatly, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see McDaniels average the most points on the team during Edwards' absence.
Lastly, this will be the LaMelo Ball show. He's now the superstar, and he'll be relied on to lead the way. He's no stranger to being the number one option, and now he gets to do it with a ton of talented role players surrounding him. Fortunately for the Wolves, the upcoming stretch is one of the easier ones of the season. If they can do their part and win some games while Edwards gets healthy, they shouldn't miss much of a beat.
Get well 5.
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