Timberwolves get MAJOR Anthony Edwards Update...

So Anthony Edwards, as you all know, is just two weeks removed from his surgery. On today's Timberwolves Digest, we've got an update on how the rehab is actually going. John Krasinski of The Athletic said on his podcast, quote, I heard the rehab is going great so far. That's the knee that cut his season off after just four games. Four games where he was scoring 33.3 points a night. The last time he stepped on the floor, he actually dropped 47 in an overtime loss, as you all might remember, against Cleveland. Three days later, he was actually on the operating table. And the team he left behind, well, they have not fallen apart. Minnesota is 5-2 without him and has won four straight games. So look, the guy carrying him at this point is Lomelo, who actually looked like a passenger next to Ant. Well, I would say at this point he now looks like an actual closer. But there's a catch with all the good news. Recently, a doctor actually watched video of Ant and doesn't believe this was a simple cleanup. Quite frankly, as it was sold. So I guess the question is, how good is this team really at this point? And on top of that, what will the team actually look like when Ant walks back in? Krasinski didn't stop at going great. He said the Wolves, quote, really like how that is going and that eventually you'll see Ant back on the bench. He's actually already back around the team. And Krasinski says the players, of course, love having him there. On Tuesday, he showed up at practice on crutches to talk smack, if you will, to his teammates. Look, that's a lot of improvement from where he was two weeks ago. On October 27th, Shams reported Ant would miss up to two months. Krasinski actually went darker and said that recovery could take longer. Then two months, the Wolves never gave a date at all. They only said he's expected to make a full recovery. Krasinski did report the hope inside the building is a return sometime in December. Two months from surgery lands on, if you will, December 29th, and the Wolves play 21 games between tonight and then. That's a whole quarter of the season, and let's face it, the West is not going to wait for Ant. So this week's update didn't actually move the date and nobody at this point should pretend that it did. What it moved is the actual mood and that matters more than it sounds. Before the surgery, Kaczynski reported that belief internally is that he will let Ant play pain-free and get back closer to the Ant we know, and that he has historically been a fast healer. Going great is the first sign that the belief is, at this point, holding up. So that doctor ended up watching the video of Ant with crutches and he came away with the following questions. But before we get to that, this video is brought to you by Kalshi. Kalshi is a prediction market where you can trade on the outcome of real events. Sports, of course, are included. So if you've got a feeling about how the Wolves season plays out, Kalshi is where you can back it. Check out the link and description. End the pinned comment and use code DIGESTNBA. Now, back to Ant's knee. So, sports doctor Brian Sutterer posted about the video on Wednesday. His point was that Ant is nearly two weeks out from what was called a quick cleanup. And quite frankly, he's still on crutches. Sutterer says most surgeons let a player put weight. On the knee right away after a trim like this, and crutches usually last a few days to a week at most. In his word, ants rehab is, quote, not typical for a simple scope. He went as far as saying he thinks this was a bigger surgery than was implied. So look, that's a doctor actually watching a video, not an actual doctor who's actually seen the scans, if you know what I mean. The people who have seen them are saying something that is the scans completely different at this point. The Wolves called it a successful procedure, a debridement. Which cleans up damaged issues in the knee. Tim Connolly said the knee is, quote, not something we are concerned with long term. And in this same podcast where he said, going great, Krasinski said, it's still very early and Ant has a long way to go before he can protect himself on the court. Put those side by side and those crutches actually look like a red flag and more like a team taking it slowly on purpose. We've seen them do it already. Connolly said Ant wanted to play against Golden State that night before the surgery. The team said no because the imaging on the knee had gotten worse since the summer. So look, this is a player they're building around the next decade. And quite frankly, they've already shown they'll do whatever it takes to protect Ant against himself. So look, Suttery could still turn out to be right. And quite frankly, if Ant is still in crutches about a month from now, well, that, my friends, is a completely different conversation. For now, patience is a choice, and they can afford it because of who's been running the offense, quite frankly, while Ant has been out. When the Wolves actually went ahead and traded for LaMelo Ball back in June, They actually ended up giving away some real assets. It was Nas, an unprotected 20-33 first, three first-round swaps, and three second-round picks went to Charlotte. In Lomelo's first three games with Ant, he actually looked like, if you will, a second option, and quite frankly, nothing more. So when Ant went down, head coach Chris Finch said he expected LaMelo to take on more of a scoring role. He averaged 12.7 points a game next to Ant, and in the next seven games, well, he's actually averaging north of 20 points per game. He's making 3.63s a game during this stretch, up from 2.3, and his rebounds have doubled from two to four. He scored 20 or more in five of those games with a season high against that horrible basketball team in Milwaukee, 34. And look at when he's scoring them. In Houston on November 4th, the Rockets led by two midway through the fourth quarter. LaMelo scored seven points in a 10-2 run and the Wolves were up 104-98 with about five minutes left. Twelve of his 20 points that night actually came in the fourth quarter. Look, he wasn't out there alone at the end either. Lamello and Jonathan Kamingo were the closers that night, as Will Roggetts put it. And Finch calls Kamingo, quote, a godsend in everything we needed. Two nights later, New Orleans, the Pelicans went up 89-87 with under eight minutes to go. Lamello answered with five straight points to start a 10-2 run. And Minnesota actually ended up leading the rest of the way. The Wolves ultimately won the game 115-109 on the road. That's a guy, quite frankly, closing games that were supposed to be closed alongside Anthony Edwards. Teams have noticed, too, and Finch says the way defenses are getting into LaMelo, quote, feels like playoff time. I am then on Sunday against Utah. LaMelo's steal and dunk made it 70-63, and the Wolves led by 18 after three quarters. Io DeSumo had been right three with him, scoring a team-high 21.6 points a game since Ant went out. Finch said Ant going down, quote, kind of kick-started Io's season. After the Utah win, Lamello called the two of them, quote, pretty much just a great duo. And he said Io is understanding how he plays, and he already knows how Io actually plays. So look, that's three players learning to win big games together in November, quite frankly, without their best player. So look, if Lomelo has you totally fired up how he's actually closing big games, please go ahead and subscribe and of course, comment on the Timberwolves Digest today. So the person who has noticed all of this the most at this point is, of course, Anthony Edwards. The day after the surgery, Krasinski reported that Ant looked at how quickly this team gelled his chemistry with Lomelo and how Kaminga is playing. And he really believes in Krasinski's words that this is a team that can come out of the Western Conference. So look, this isn't a star just sitting there sulking about missing time. He's actually betting on the group around him are actually going to get good enough to actually hold down the court until he actually returns. So far, he's right. NBA.com moved the Wolves from 12th to 3rd in its power rankings this week. When Ant did play, they went 3-1 and outscored teams by, get this, 17 points. Now, without him, they're still winning, but they're only winning by 7.7 points per win. And this is the team, quite frankly, that Finch was actually dreaming about before the start of the season. In October, he said, quote, my gut tells me that I want them on the floor together. That's why we brought LaMelo here. They've only had three games of that so far, and LaMelo was still finding his feet in all three. Look, the LaMelo that Ant comes back is not going to be the same LaMelo that he was during the first three games. Yeah, Charlotte got Nas Reed and all of those draft picks. But of course, the Timberwolves ended up getting the guy that's actually closed out the last two games. Now put Ant next to that and all the other changes, and you can see why Ant is so confident about a trip and possibly being the team coming out of the West this year. They're 8-3, 5th in the West, and only two games behind the Lakers for first. Look, there is a cost to this time off, and quite frankly, it isn't small. Krasinski said the surgery takes Ant out of MVP and an all-NBA consideration, and that there are, of course, financial implications to that. He also said Ant is taking it fairly in stride, which tells you actually where his head is. Ultimately, he gave up a shot at all those awards for knee. That lets him, if you will, chase that bigger picture during this spring months. Thanks so much for tuning into the Timberwolves Digest today. I'd love to get your thoughts, your opinions in North America. Please go ahead and drop them in. Do you believe when Ant comes back, this Timberwolves team is going to really go on a run? Do you believe that LaMelo and this new cast of characters can actually hold down the fort? If Ant doesn't actually get back until the start of calendar year 2027, I want to know what your thoughts and opinions are. Please go ahead and drop them in. As always, for the Timberwolves Digest, I'm Dave DuBois wishing you all a tremendous rest of your sports viewing day.