Without Anthony Edwards, who will miss up to two months after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday, the pressure is on Minnesota to stay in the playoff race without him.
Replacing Edwards, who scored 45 points in the season opener and 47 in Monday’s overtime loss to Cleveland, will not be easy. Fortunately, the Wolves have been here before. Kind of.
Last season, after Edwards suffered a hyperextended left knee during Game 4 of the first-round series against Denver, Edwards missed Games 5 and 6. The Wolves split those games, eliminating the Nuggets in Game 6, when they were also without Donte DiVincenzo and Ayo Dosunmu.
Who stepped up? Jaden McDaniels and TJ Shannon.
McDaniels shot 13 of 25 and finished with 32 points. Shannon scored 24, getting downhill and punishing the defenseless Nuggets at the rim.
Julius Randle and Naz Reid also helped, but with both now gone, Edwards will pass the baton to LaMelo Ball, Dosunmu, McDaniels, Shannon and Jonathan Kuminga.
Minnesota has the pieces to keep winning without Edwards, though none of them can do it alone. Edwards averaged 26 shot attempts per game in the first four, with no one else attempting more than 12 per game.
- Ball: 12.3 shots per game
- McDaniels: 11.0
- Dosunmu: 10.3
- Kuminga: 8.8
- Shannon: 8.0
Twenty-six shots a night is a lot. All of the names above will see their chances increase.
Ball averaged 25.3 points per game with Charlotte two seasons ago. He has experience being a No. 1 option, although he’s better suited as a secondary option who runs the offense and creates opportunities for his teammates.
McDaniels, in his last 10 games last season without Edwards in the lineup, averaged 18.5 points on 14.8 shots per game. He’ll surely be asked to carry more of the load on offense, but his play style doesn’t fit seamlessly into Edwards’ role.
Dosunmu’s play style is the closest thing to Edwards on the team. He’s not Ant-Man, but like Edwards, he’s a terrific three-point shooter who can create his own shot off the dribble. He played eight games without Edwards last season and averaged 18.6 points on 14.1 attempts per game.
Shannon is an interesting case study because the Wolves didn’t really figure out how to use him until late last season. In a small sample size — four games with significant minutes when Edwards was sidelined — he averaged 24.5 points on 15.5 shots per game. That included offensive ex
Edwards is going to miss about 30 games. Minnesota needs to collectively replace him and stay in the race until Ant-Man returns for the final 40-45 games of the regular season.
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This story was originally published by Bring Me The Sports on Oct 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Timberwolves section. Add Bring Me The Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.