Anthony Edwards said this week that he went two full months without basketball this summer. “After the season I needed like two months. I took really like two months off to really let my knee heal,” he said, per Yahoo Sports. The Wolves’ season turns on whether that knee holds.
The best version of this team needs Edwards on the floor, and last season he wasn’t there often enough. If his knee holds, the new roster has a real chance to be better than the one that lost to San Antonio. If it doesn’t, none of the rest matters much.
What the knee did last season
Edwards hyperextended his left knee in Game 4 of the first-round series against Denver and suffered a bone bruise, per Yahoo. The Wolves won that series in six games. Edwards returned nine days later for the second round, per Heavy, and the Wolves lost to the Spurs.
That came at the end of a season that was already costing him games. He played 61, the fewest of his career, as injuries limited him. Here are his last three seasons, per Basketball Reference:
| Season | G | MP total | Pts | TS% | USG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023‑24 | 79 | 2,770 | 25.9 | .575 | 32.3 |
| 2024‑25 | 79 | 2,871 | 27.6 | .595 | 31.4 |
| 2025‑26 | 61 | 2,137 | 28.8 | .617 | 31.5 |
TS% is true shooting percentage. USG% is the share of team possessions he used while on the floor.
Edwards played 734 fewer minutes in 2025-26 than the year before. His scoring and efficiency didn’t slip. He scored a career-high 28.8 points a game on a career-best .617 true shooting, shot 39.9% from three on 8.4 attempts, and got to the line 7.2 times a game. When he played, he was the best he has been.
The other changes came from how he played. He took 8.4 threes a game, down from 10.3 in 2024-25, and made 39.9% of them, up from 39.5%. His assists fell from 4.5 to 3.7 and his rebounds from 5.7 to 5.0. That fits the point guard experiment I covered after media day: the ball was in his hands more, and the extra work didn’t show up in the passing numbers. Whatever his knee allows this year, a healthy Edwards who shoots well and doesn’t have to run everything is a different problem for defenses.
Why two months off is the right call
Edwards said the break was hard. “It was super tough. I put on a lot of weight and now I’ve lost it so I’m good,” he told reporters, per Yahoo. Asked what he does when he can’t play, he said he spends the time being a dad and a husband, then added: “all I do is play the game.”
He then credited the Wolves’ staff for the rest: “After doing all the treatments with C Hines and Javair, I got back right, so I feel great.” Hines is the team’s director of player development and Javair Gillet is its vice president of sports science and performance.
He was back on the floor nine days after the hyperextension, so I’d rather hear a star say he took two months to heal than hear he trained through the summer. The weight he gained is gone, he says, and the knee feels great. Edwards is 25 with a long career to protect, and a full summer of rest is cheap insurance.
The new roster is built to protect him
Edwards played 35.0 minutes a game last season and used 31.5% of the Wolves’ possessions while he was on the floor. The new roster should lower the second number.
The biggest change is at point guard. As I wrote after media day, Edwards is done bringing the ball up now that LaMelo Ball is here. Fewer trips up the floor against traps and blitzes should mean fewer hard cuts and awkward landings for a player coming off a knee injury. Ball also gives Edwards a passer who can find him in the corner, which I covered in how Ball can turn Rudy Gobert back into a lob threat.
Depth matters too. Kuminga gives Minnesota another player who can create a shot, and the rest of the bench is laid out in the full 2026-27 Wolves roster and depth chart.
Edwards also lives on attacking the rim and getting to the line, which I looked at in Chris Finch’s flopping argument. That style asks a lot of the knees. It only works if they are healthy.
What I’m watching
Preseason scoring means nothing to me. I’m watching how Edwards moves on his first few drives, whether he lands cleanly, and whether Finch lets him play more than 25 minutes in October.
The last thing I’d want to see is a rushed ramp-up. Edwards said he feels great. But he missed 21 of 82 games last season, and the Wolves didn’t get them back. If he plays 75 or more this year, the roster will look as good as it does on paper.