Edwards does not look right out there.
The Minnesota Timberwolves dropped a 115-103 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night, and the most telling moment of the evening might not have been the final score.
It was watching Anthony Edwards move around the court like a player who had no business being out there.
Edwards finished with just eight points on 3-of-15 shooting, missed all seven of his three-point attempts, and looked nothing like the guy who has been one of the best scorers in the league all season.
After the game, head coach Chris Finch didn't try to sugarcoat what everybody could already see.
"Obviously, you know, [he] didn't look like he had a lot of juice tonight, but all credit to him playing through what he's been through over the last number of days," Finch said.
Edwards Is Running on Empty
That quote says plenty, but the context makes it worse.
Edwards had already missed seven of the team's last eight games heading into Friday while dealing with right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome and an illness.
He sat out Thursday's 113-108 loss to the Detroit Pistons entirely and then turned around and played 26 minutes against Philadelphia less than 24 hours later on a back-to-back.
And for what? Edwards went 3-of-15 from the floor, looked sluggish getting to his spots, and even missed a wide-open dunk that seemed to shift the entire game's momentum.
The Sixers outscored Minnesota 42-24 in the third quarter to blow things open, and Edwards was basically a spectator while Julius Randle and Bones Hyland carried the scoring load with 21 points each.
On the season, Edwards is averaging 28.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game for a Timberwolves team sitting at 46-31 and sixth in the Western Conference. Those numbers are career-best territory.
But the version of Edwards who showed up in Philadelphia on Friday looked nothing like that player, and everyone in the building knew it.
Minnesota Needs to Sit Him Down
The Timberwolves have five games left in the regular season and their playoff positioning is relatively stable.
They're sixth in the West with a comfortable cushion over the Phoenix Suns, and while they trail the Houston Rockets by a game, there's no seeding battle worth risking the health of their franchise player for.
The bigger issue is what this looks like heading into the postseason.
Edwards has only appeared in two of Minnesota's last nine games, and both of those appearances have been rough.
His first game back against the Dallas Mavericks on March 30 was a 17-point outing off the bench in limited minutes, and Friday's eight-point clunker against the Sixers was even worse.
There's a difference between toughing it out and doing more harm than good.
Edwards playing through a knee issue on a back-to-back, clearly compromised, doesn't help the Timberwolves win games and it doesn't help him get right for April and beyond.
The Sixers are 43-35 on the season and were dealing with their own injury issues, but they had more than enough to handle a Minnesota team that was missing its best player's best effort.
Finch gave Edwards credit for gutting it out, and that's fine.
But the Timberwolves need Edwards healthy when the games actually matter, not limping through regular-season losses that aren't going to move the needle on their seeding.
Sit him down, let the knee heal, and let the roster that went 4-2 without him prove it can hold things together for a few more games.
The playoffs are right around the corner, and Minnesota can't afford to have their best player running on fumes when they get there.