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Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards will make return from hamstring injury against Knicks at Madison Square Garden

The Minnesota Timberwolves will have their star back on the court in the Big Apple on Wednesday night. Three-time All-Star guard Anthony Edwards has been cleared to play against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden.

Edwards will make his return to the lineup from a right hamstring strain that cost him the past four games.

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“Arena and stage aside, I think it’s more he’s itching to play,” Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said pregame.

“One thing we love about Ant, he plays. He’s played in 95% of the games in his career, I would imagine. He wants to play — no matter where that is.”

Edwards suffered the injury in the opening minutes of the Wolves’ home opener on Oct. 26. It wasn’t long before the team ruled him out with hamstring tightness, although Minnesota went on to hold off the Indiana Pacers in the Target Center.

The next day, the Timberwolves announced Edwards was dealing with a hamstring strain and would be re-evaluated in a week. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported at the time Edwards was expected to miss two weeks with the injury.

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Turns out, he’s ahead of schedule.

In Edwards’ absence, Minnesota dropped home games to the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers before bouncing back with consecutive road victories over the Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets.

Edwards kicked off the season with a 41-point performance in a win against the Portland Trail Blazers. He then scored 31 points in a road defeat to the Lakers, however, he grabbed at his hamstring a few times in that game, according to The Athleticâ€s Jon Krawczynski.

Edward’s hamstring issue ultimately pressed pause on his sixth season in the NBA, which is his second on a five-year max extension, but now he’s back in the fold.

Last season, he averaged a career-high 27.6 points per game, which ranked fifth in the league, while spearheading Minnesota’s second straight run to the Western Conference finals.

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Ja Morant trade value, interest low but Kings, Timberwolves reportedly monitoring situation

Memphis has stumbled out of the gate to a 3-5 record with a bottom-10 offense and defense. Then came the reality-TV level unnecessary drama: Star Ja Morant had a low-effort game against the Lakers (check out the video), new Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo believes in being direct and calling out players letting the team down and did so with Morant in the locker room, Morant responded by throwingthe coaches under the bus, which led to him being suspended for one game for “conduct detrimental to the team.†Things have not looked much better since.

In the NBA, an unhappy star inevitably leads to trade speculation. That has happened here. However, there is not much of a market around the league in trading for Morant, multiple front office sources told NBC Sports. There are concerns about whether he is still an All-Star-level player, and how his personality and ball-dominant style would fit on a lot of rosters. That said, there is always some level of interest in picking up a player — especially a popular one, someone a teamâ€s marketing arm can sell and boost ticket sales — on a lowball offer, or a team open to trading a problem star for a problem star. The challenge becomes that if Memphis is ever going to consider parting with the face of the franchise, it will want a massive haul in return, and that market is not out there.

Teams are at least keeping their eye on what is happening in Memphis, reports Sam Amick at The Athletic.

“There is still no shortage of teams that will continue monitoring his situation. The Minnesota Timberwolves, per a team source, are one. Ditto for the Sacramento Kings. The Grizzlies†next opponent, the Houston Rockets, need a point guard after losing Fred Van Vleet to a torn ACL in the preseason but, per a team source, are unlikely to pursue him.â€

Morantâ€s contract is not the issue. He is making $39.5 million this season and has two years, $87.1 million remaining after this season, reasonable numbers if a team still considers Morant an All-Star. Morant can still put up numbers, averaging 20.4 points and 7.1 assists a game this season.

Memphis would be wise to wait until they get healthy — center Zach Edey is near a return, and this team badly misses Scottie Pippen Jr. and Ty Jerome for spacing — before making any decisions. Give Iisalo a chance as he starts to get back key players who better fit his system. Then, if that doesnâ€t work, there will be hard conversations to have about him, Jaren Jackson Jr. and the rest of the roster.

For right now, Memphis is just trying to get itself right, and the rest of the league is watching this play out. As we get closer to the trade deadline in February, the situation may change, but this is more likely an offseason kind of move. If we see a change at all.

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Knicks remain undefeated in preseason play after 100-95 OT win over Timberwolves

The Knicks extended their preseason record to 3-0, beating the Timberwolves in their first game at MSG this season, 100-95, in overtime. Mikal Bridges led the way with 15 points on 3-for-7 shooting from three, followed by 11 points from Jalen Brunson.

New York was without Josh Hart,but Karl-Anthony Towns picked up the slack with a double-double in 26 minutes while Miles McBride and Jordan Clarkson each added 10 off the bench. Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 17 points while former Knick Julius Randlenotched 16.

Here are the takeaways…

-Despite being a man down, the Knicks set a competitive tone using the same starters from the last contest, going on a 7-2 run off of strong team defense. The Timberwolves quickly met their intensity, responding with a 7-0 run of their own.

Towns was active early with two aggressive drives leading to scores, including an acrobatic lefty and one, as he had five points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in the opening period. On the other end, it was Minnesota’s stars Randle and Edwards leading the way with nine and eight, respectively, as their Wolves led 21-20 after one, capitalizing on the Knicks’ shooting just 2 of 14 from three.

-The first half likely looked close to what we’ll see from the Knicks’ final rotation, as we saw them play nine guys and decent starter minutes. However, there was still experimentation going on with a different starting and closing unit, plus the three-guard bench had Landry Shamet featured over Malcolm Brogdon.  Dillingham was a big spark off the bench for Minny with seven quick points in the second period, but New York kept their deficit within single digits. Even a late first-half spark from Brunson to give him a team-leading 11 points at the half failed to bridge the gap, though, as Minny led 44-38 at halftime behind 14 points from Edwards.

-Head coach Mike Brownopened the second half with Guerschon Yabusele in as the “fifth” starter, then subbed him for Shamet, after opening with Robinson and trying out McBride to finish the first. Fans have been watching this storyline closely throughout the preseason, but expect to continue seeing variations of the looks around the core four well into the regular season.

Nothing he threw out made meaningful headway against the Timberwolves while the Knicks bricked away from three, as they started 4-for-30 from deep on this night. The silver lining was that they created tons of good looks that simply didn’t go down, and their defense fared well.

Late in the third, things shifted as Bridges hit a couple and OG Anunoby drilled one facing up in Rudy Gobert’s eye. The Knicks took advantage of some offensive rebounding without Robinson on the floor, then doubled down with a super small lineup of Yabusele at the five.

But Minnesota closed the third strong, featuring an inside hook and buzzer-beating corner three from the 2024 Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid, going into the final frame up 71-63.

-The fourth quarter began with a bench unit of Brogdon, McBride, Clarkson, Pacome Dadiet, and Ariel Hukportithat kicked off a massive 19-9 run to give the Knicks an 82-80 lead, their first since the opening period. McBride was the big offensive boost, hitting a flurry of jumpers, while the rest each chipped in to the effort.

Midway through the period, the Knicks went deeper into their bench as the Timberwolves also cleared the pine to close the game. Down two with 10 seconds left, Minny’s Johnny Juzang drove for a running right hook to tie the game.

The Knicks declined to call timeout, running it up to Garrison Mathews, who got a clean look from the top of the break but couldn’t pull off the game-winner.

-New York ran with Kolek, Mathews, Dadiet, Tosan Evbuomwan and Hukporti for the extra minutes. Their defense sparked an 8-0 run with some solid teamwork and execution on the other end and coasted from there.

Highlights

What’s next

The Knicks continue their preseason slate with a home game against the Wizards on Monday, Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m.

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Pacers’ Delon Wright leaves preseason win over Timberwolves after brutal head collision with Jaylen Clark

Indiana Pacers guard Delon Wright left Tuesdayâ€s preseason win over the Minnesota Timberwolves early after he took a hard shot to the head.

In the second quarter of the preseason matchup at the Target Center, Wright was dribbling near the halfcourt line when Timberwolves forward Jaylen Clark sprinted in to try and steal the ball away from the back side. Wright didnâ€t see Clark coming until it was too late, and he turned his head at the worst time.

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Clarkâ€s head collided directly with the side of Wrightâ€s as he turned left, and Wright was sent falling down to the court hard. Clark remained on his feet, and was called for a foul on the play.

Wright remained down for a bit, but was eventually helped up and walked off the floor to the locker room. He didnâ€t return, and the Pacers quickly ruled him out of the rest of the game with a head injury. Further specifics are not yet known.

Wright had two points in four minutes when he left the contest. The 33-year-old has bounced around throughout his career in the league. After the Toronto Raptors selected him with the No. 20 overall pick out of Utah in 2015, heâ€s spent time with the Grizzlies, Mavericks, Pistons, Kings, Hawks, Wizards, Heat, Bucks and Knicks before landing with the Pacers on a training camp contract. Heâ€s trying to battle for the final spot on their roster this season. If successful, they would mark the sixth team heâ€s played for in the last four seasons.

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Clark was eventually ruled out of the game with neck spasms, too. He didnâ€t score, but had a rebound and an assist in eight minutes. He averaged 4.1 points last season during his rookie campaign in Minnesota.

RayJ Dennis led the Pacers with 16 points off the bench in the 135-134 overtime win. Pascal Siakam had 14 points and shot 3-of-5 from behind the arc in 14 minutes, and Aaron Nesmith had 12 points. Johnny Juzang led the Timberwolves with 20 points on six 3-pointers off the bench. Anthony Edwards had 17 points in 19 minutes in the loss.

The Pacers have three preseason games left before they open the season on Oct. 23 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Timberwolves have four more, including one against the Chinese Basketball Associationâ€s Guangzhou Loong-Lions, before their season-opener against the Portland Trail Blazers on Oct. 22.

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Minnesota Timberwolves reveal throwback Kevin Garnett-era uniforms

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    Ohm YoungmisukSep 24, 2025, 10:45 AM ET

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      Ohm Youngmisuk has covered the Giants, Jets and the NFL since 2006. Prior to that, he covered the Nets, Knicks and the NBA for nearly a decade. He joined ESPNNewYork.com after working at the New York Daily News for almost 12 years and is a graduate of Michigan State University.

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As Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore spent time in Minnesota in the years prior to taking ownership over of the Timberwolves this summer, one of the things the two heard often and loudly was to bring back “the trees.”

The new majority owners of the Wolves and WNBA’s Lynx will do just that this season.

The Timberwolves will bring back their iconic Black Trees Classic Edition, an alternate uniform worn from 1998 to 2008 (and donned often by Kevin Garnett) for 28 games this season: 21 at home and 7 on the road. They will debut against the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 26.

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“One of the things we’ve been obsessing over is fan experience in the arena and giving them the best in class,” Rodriguez, co-chairperson of the Wolves and Lynx, told ESPN. “We polled the fans and very high on their poll was they wanted these jerseys that mean a great deal to them — the ‘Black Trees.’

“And also we’ll be having some more surprises in-arena and uniform stuff. But hearing the fans loud and clear is very important to us and we’re trying to deliver exactly what they want.”

Minnesota first introduced the popular uniform with tree trim and a Timberwolves font that looks similar to the Count Chocula one in 1996-97. The black alternate jersey debuted two years later.

With Garnett roaming the paint and Flip Saunders coaching on the sideline, the Wolves made the playoffs eight straight seasons — culminating with the franchise’s first Western Conference finals appearance in 2003-04 — during the trees uniform era.

The last time the franchise wore the black alternate jersey was during the 2018-19 season.

“We’ve got some uniforms in our closet that fans love,” said Mike Grahl, Timberwolves and Lynx chief marketing officer. “And I would say this particular one that we’re bringing back is at the front of the fans’ closets … The fans continue to ask for this jersey. Anytime we do a uniform drop of any sort, there’s one common word that gets echoed by all of our fans, and that word is ‘trees.’

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“There’s no other uniform in the NBA that’s designed in that way. The character that it has and the uniqueness that it has, I think fans have significant energy for and they hold onto that in lore.”

As Anthony Edwards will try to lead Minnesota to a third straight Western Conference finals appearance, he and the Wolves will wear the franchise’s most iconic jersey 21 of the 28 times at the Target Center.

Rodriguez says he and Lore heard the fans loud and clear.

“When we first got here, everyone wanted to bring the glory days back,” Rodriguez said. “They had that uniform when they [first] went to the Western Conference finals. There’s a lot of great memories for the young adults that were kids at that time.

“And that is not just a cool uniform for the Timberwolves. I think it’s one of the cool jerseys over the last few decades in the NBA. They’re just classic. You see ’em when they [rank] a lot of throwbacks. That’s one of the ones that always comes up top five. So our fans are very proud of them.”

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