With Anthony Edwards injured, the Timberwolves’ season is getting worse

The Minnesota Timberwolves’ hellish season continued Friday night as they lost to the Chicago Bulls in double overtime and lost Anthony Edwards for the rest of the regular season to an ankle injury. There has been no official update from the team. Edwards returned to the bench in walking shoes toward the end of the game and he told reporters briefly that he would be fine.

I can appreciate Ant’s attitude and toughness. He played in 71 of 71 games, while other stars barely participate by playing 7 games in a row. Are with just three weeks left in the NBA regular season, the T-Wolves are one game out of the playoffs and one game away from missing the playoffs.

But fear not, Minnesota, backup should arrive anytime. (Hey, Karl, that’s your cue.) Karl-Anthony Towns is close to returning from a months-long calf injury. According to the update two days ago, KAT is coming back – In the next weeks. Whatever that means for the better, it means he’ll be back on the floor soon.

The good

All things considered, the situation is still not so bad, because the low point of the West is deep. Minnesota must eliminate the Jazz, Pelicans and Blazers for the 12 seed. Two of those organizations are in freefall, and Danny Ainge is doing his best to keep the third team in the lottery.

Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert are more than capable of playing .500 basketball for a short period of time, and hopefully long enough to bridge the gap until Towns returns. Oh, and when that happens, any issues Gobert and Towns have been talking about better magically disappear.

The bad

Minnesota without Edwards is the 2021 Utah Jazz, but older and without Donovan Mitchell, and that’s about as depressing a basketball situation as you’re going to see. The front office gave Gobert a million draft picks, and the only argument that it was a smart move is that he’s the final cornerstone.

Laker D’Angelo Russell, KAT’s natural, is suffering from an injury and the brightest spots collapsed on the court Friday night. he screamed “OUT OF TIME!” like he was trying to stop the fight after his brother tied him up too hard.

The front office has already tried to rethink the narrative once and failed, so if this season ends abruptly, the next steps could be more drastic.

The ugly

The only way the Wolves can avoid an offseason of pundits wondering who’s unhappy and fans making fake KAT deals is to make the playoffs and win a round. It’s possible, but Edwards needs to return to the playoffs and Towns needs to go ballistic as soon as possible.

Anytime we wonder which franchise is the gold standard for mismanagement, Minnesota offers a season like this, or the year after they last made the playoffs when Jimmy Butler burst out of Minneapolis with a machete. And then that leads people to ask, “Weren’t you the team that signed two non-Steph Curry point guards before Steph Curry?” And things go on from there.

So good luck, T-Wolves fans. And just know not your fault.

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We feel sorry for Minnesota sports fans, but not enough to write nice things about Kirk Cousins. Read more Timberwolves and Vikings news on the Deadspin team pages.