Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels recently underwent an MRI for his left knee soreness that revealed left knee patella tendinopathy and a bone bruise, the team announced on Monday afternoon.
As a result, McDaniels will be sidelined indefinitely and listed as week-to-week, with further updates on his progress and potential return to play to be provided when available.
This injury seemed to pop up during the Timberwolves' recent 110-108 overtime win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night. McDaniels was favoring his left leg in overtime and ended up missing the team's most recent game against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.
Without McDaniels, as well as Anthony Edwards, the Wolves fell 108-87 to the Eastern Conference's top team.
The Timberwolves only have eight games remaining on their schedule, which puts the remainder of the regular season in jeopardy for the defensive-minded forward.
In 71 games this season, McDaniels has averaged 14.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 51.8 percent from the floor and 42.1 percent from 3-point range. He is a huge part of the Timberwolves' defensive success this season, and the team's defensive rating drops by nearly four points when he doesn't play.
While this is certainly not the news that the Timberwolves had hoped for, there is some good news coming their way.
Edwards, who has missed six straight games dealing with right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome, has been making great progress in his return-to-play rehab and was updated to questionable for Monday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks.
All indications point to Edwards making his return on the road in Dallas, which will lessen the burden of Minnesota being without McDaniels on the wing. In his absence, the Wolves have gone 4-2, losing games to the Pistons and the Portland Trail Blazers.
Now 45-29 on the season, the Wolves find themselves tied for the 5-seed in the Western Conference standings with the Houston Rockets. Both teams are two games back of the Denver Nuggets, who currently hold the 4-seed, and three games back of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 3-seed.
On the opposite end, Minnesota is four games above the Phoenix Suns in the 7-seed, so the Timberwolves should be safe from falling into the play-in region of the standings.
Without McDaniels in the nightly rotation for the next several games, the Timberwolves will turn to Terrence Shannon Jr., Naz Reid, and Kyle Anderson to step up into elevated roles off the bench.
