NBA injuries highlight Edwards, Tatum, Lillard
- Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards will miss at least one week after hyperextending his left knee in Game 4 against Denver, though tests found no structural damage. - Damian Lillard tore his left Achilles in Milwaukee’s first-round loss to Indiana, and Jayson Tatum ruptured his right Achilles against New York on May 12. - Isaiah Thomas scored 33 points one day after sister Chyna died in 2017, a lasting measure of playoff strain. (nba.com)
Anthony Edwards’ latest playoff injury is less severe than first feared, but it lands in a postseason already marked by Achilles tears for Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum. (nba.com) (apnews.com) The Minnesota Timberwolves said Monday that Edwards has a hyperextended left knee and a bone bruise, with no structural damage, after he was hurt in Game 4 against Denver. The team said he will be out at least one week. (nba.com) (apnews.com) That diagnosis is a different category from the injuries that ended the 2025 playoff runs of Lillard and Tatum. Lillard tore his left Achilles in Game 4 of Milwaukee’s first-round series with Indiana on April 27, 2025, and the Bucks said he would miss the rest of the playoffs. (nba.com) Tatum ruptured his right Achilles in Boston’s May 12, 2025 loss to the New York Knicks, then underwent surgery the next day. He had scored 42 points before the injury and had already missed one playoff game earlier in that postseason with a bone bruise in his right wrist. (nba.com) An Achilles tendon is the cord connecting the calf muscles to the heel, and it powers the push-off in running, jumping and sudden changes of direction. ESPN’s Stephania Bell wrote that ruptures often happen when a player stretches the back leg, then tries to explode forward. (espn.com) Bell also reported that rapid surgery is standard for elite players and cited research finding better tissue outcomes when repair happens within 48 hours. That helps explain why Boston announced Tatum’s surgery less than a day after he went down. (espn.com) (nba.com) Lillard’s case carried another layer because he had just returned from deep vein thrombosis in his right calf, a blood-clot condition that had sidelined him for Milwaukee’s final 14 regular-season games. He came back for Game 2 against Indiana, then was injured in his third game back. (nba.com) The playoff injury conversation also reaches beyond torn ligaments and tendons. In April 2017, Isaiah Thomas played Boston’s Game 1 against Chicago one day after his sister, Chyna Thomas, died in a car crash in Washington state, and he scored 33 points in 38 minutes. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) That game remains one of the clearest examples of the non-medical strain attached to the postseason. Brad Stevens said before tipoff there was “no right or wrong answer” on whether Thomas should play, and afterward called his performance inspiring. (nba.com) Edwards’ update does not belong in the same bucket as the season-ending Achilles ruptures, but it keeps the same theme in view. In the playoffs, one awkward landing, one hard push-off or one impossible personal decision can reset a series overnight. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) (nba.com 3)
