MN Timberwolves Choose Familiarity with Ant Out

Bad things have been piling up for sports teams in this town the past handful of days. And unfortunately, the Minnesota Timberwolves were not able to escape the negativity.

In fact, it took all of three minutes for Anthony Edwards to depart against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night, and unlike what we’ve seen in the past, Ant was not able to return. Monday, the Wolves superstar was ruled out out multiple weeks with a hamstring injury, leaving Chris Finch to shuffle his rotation.

Mike Conley rejoins Timberwolves starting lineup

Just before the season started, the Wolves announced that Donte DiVincenzo was going to take the place of Mike Conley as his starting point guard. But now with Edwards out, Mike Conley is back in.

“It’s comfortable for us. It’s easy and it feels like the right thing to do right now.” — Finch in Conley starting. Said he thinks he can take some of the playmaking burden off of Randle.

— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 27, 2025

At 38 years old, Mike Conley is no spring chicken. The former 4th overall pick is now in his 19th season. Last year with the Timberwolves, the veteran played in 71 games. He started 64 of those contests and averaged 8.2 points per game.

Not unsurprisingly Conley’s production has started to tail off. He shot just 40% from the field and only 41% from deep. Two years ago, his first full season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Conley connected on 44.2% of his three-point attempts.

It’s likely that starting minutes will over-extend the aging veteran. After all, that’s why Finch decided to make a change in the starting lineup out of the gate. However, in what is hopefully a short stint with Edwards out, Conley’s experience is easy to lean on.

Timberwolves suddenly thin at guard

With Edwards out, and Rob Dillingham already dealing with a broken nose, Conley joins the starting lineup with options dwindling. Terrence Shannon Jr. is capable of playing the point guard role, but isn’t an ideal fit there. When Edwards left the game on Sunday, Bones Hyland immediately stepped in.

Conley has played all three games for Minnesota thus far, but is averaging a career-low 15.3 minutes per game. He scored six points against Indiana, but had none against Los Angeles and just three in the season opener.

Finch will need his veteran to facilitate from the point guard position, as well as provide some scoring. It will give DiVicenzo a bit more time to play off the ball, and Julius Randle can focus on being a volume scorer as well.

The Timberwolves, in their trees uniforms for the second-straight night, face Denver as 6.5 point underdogs on Monday night. They welcome Los Angeles to Target Center on Wednesday to close out the month.

It looked as though the Minnesota Timberwolves may avoid that fate, and even got positive news in that the Los Angeles Lakers would be shorthanded at Target Center this week.