Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels has been listed as week-to-week with a left knee injury, the team announced on Monday.
An MRI revealed McDaniels has left knee patella tendinopathy and a bone bruise. McDaniels injured the knee late in Wednesday’s overtime win over the Houston Rockets and missed the Wolves’ loss to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.
McDaniels has been one of the Wolves’ ironmen over the years, playing north of 70 games in all but one of his six seasons in the NBA. He’s averaging 14.8 points, 1.1 steal and 1.0 blocks per game this season and features as Minnesota’s best perimeter defender.
The injury news comes at an inopportune time for the Timberwolves as they are in a tight seeding battle in the Western Conference standings with eight games to go in the regular season. Minnesota, who faces the Mavericks on Monday night, is currently tied for the No. 5 seed with the Rockets. They are five games up in the loss column from the Phoenix Suns, who are the No. 7 seed.
Meanwhile, Minnesota may be getting some good news related to Anthony Edwards’ return to the court with the star guard being upgraded to questionable to play in Monday’s game in Dallas. Edwards has missed the last six games with a right knee injury. In order for him to qualify for end-of-season awards like All-NBA, Edwards would need to play Monday and not miss another game this regular season.
The first round of the NBA playoffs begins on April 18.
