A prominent sports doctor has raised some questions about Anthony Edwards’ knee injury after footage of him was posted with a crutch during Minnesota Timberwolves practice.
In a series of X posts, sports medicine physiciaA prominent sports doctor has raised some questions about Anthony Edwards’ knee injury after footage of him was posted with a brace during Minnesota Timberwolves practice. n Dr. Brian Sutterer said Edwards should not supposedly wear a brace if the team’s initial ‘clean-up’ surgery was accurate.
Edwards is sidelined with a right knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery. He underwent a successful right knee arthroscopic procedure for debridement, a clean-up of frayed or damaged meniscus or cartilage tissue.
“So..Anthony Edwards is nearly two weeks out from a supposedly no big deal quick ‘clean up’ surgery and he still has that style of brace and looks like he’s putting minimal weight on the knee?,” the doctor wrote. “Not typical for a simple scope 🤔.”
Sports Doctor Questions Anthony Edwards Injury
Sutterer said a crutch is usually not needed a few days after surgery. Since the surgery happened two weeks ago, Sutterer said he has some questions about the real magnitude of the injury.
“Most surgeons permit weight bearing as tolerated right away for these simple trims/debridements as nothing has been repaired or stitched. Crutches are just for safe and proper gait but usually not needed for more than a few days to a week if even that long. I’ve got some questions for sure,” he said.
According to the team, Edwards is expected to miss up to two months of action, aiming for a return around late December or early January. However, there may be some doubts in that timeline with what Sutterer is seeing.
“My thought is this was a more significant/bigger surgery than was implied and that would align with why they were so quick to say he needed surgery after an acute change and couldn’t give it ANY rehab time,” Sutterer clarified.
Edwards dealt with ongoing right knee discomfort and patellofemoral pain syndrome, also called a runner’s knee, dating back to the previous season, which flared up after tweaking the knee during the season opener against the Miami Heat.
Timberwolves Lean Heavily Now On LaMelo Ball
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch described the Edwards injury news as “a bit of a shock to everybody” and unexpected after Edwards initially tried to play through the discomfort.
Finch immediately turned to newly acquired guard LaMelo Ball, asking him to be “more aggressive for himself” rather than deferring too much as a facilitator.
Ball has responded by stepping up as an offensive focal point and closing out games.
“When Anthony went down, one of the first things — we went to Melo, and we said, ‘you got to be more aggressive for yourself right now,'” said Finch. “You know, he was doing such a great job of kind of deferring, getting everyone involved, trying to build chemistry across the board with everyone. But we needed him to be, you know, be more aggressive for himself.”
“He’s got the ability to generate his own shots. So that’s, you know, part of his role morphing right in front of our eyes.”
The Timberwolves are in good shape despite missing Edwards, as they are currently at 8-3 and in the middle of the Western Conference standings.
Sports Doctor Raises Alarm About Anthony Edwards Knee Injury