Anthony Edwards, playmaker: This could be the change that unlocks Timberwolves offense

Back on Jan. 28 of this year, the Timberwolves played the Suns at home and D'Angelo Russell and Patrick Beverley were out of the lineup.

The Wolves lost the game by 10, but it was notable because Anthony Edwards handled point guard duties for a significant amount of the game. Edwards tallied 10 assists, a career high for him then, and afterward he was asked how he enjoyed having the ball in his hands more often.

"D-Lo is needed because I don't like bringing the ball up the court," Edwards said. "I don't like initiating the offense, not at all."

That's what makes the current situation for the Wolves so ironic. Not only is Edwards becoming an effective ballhandler and playmaker, he is relishing the role, and according to him, is having the most fun he has ever had playing basketball.

Take what he said after Sunday's win over the Bulls: "Now I'm on the ball every time, so I get to see everything. So it's pretty dope. It's actually fun, like I'm having the most fun I ever had playing basketball."

The Wolves have been playing for a few weeks without Karl-Anthony Towns, and an absence like his can cause a team to evolve out of necessity.

They have been a different team stylistically since Towns has gone out, and the ball is more often in the hands of Edwards. The results over the past few games have been revelatory.

Edwards is blossoming as a playmaker in real-time. He set a career high with 11 assists in Sunday's win over Chicago. He had nine assists, one short of completing his first career triple-double, Monday in their victory against Dallas. This followed seven assists in Friday's win over Oklahoma City. The 27 assists Edwards has had in the past three games are more than he has had in any three-game stretch of his career. The Wolves have won each game.

He has embraced the role in order to take some of the pressure off Russell, who has benefited from playing more off the ball.

"He's great with catching and shooting the ball or shooting it off the dribble," Edwards said. "So I just tell him, 'Bruh, let me just bring it up and initiate the offense, just be right there, catch and shoot, because you know they gonna help.' And he been killing, man."

If Edwards can keep this up when Rudy Gobert returns from a sprained ankle, the Wolves will have no choice but to keep things rolling with this style as best they can when Towns returns. Coach Chris Finch even hinted that the team may utilize Towns differently when he returns from a right calf injury in January or February.

"We didn't come into the season intentionally trying to make KAT just a corner spacer, but I do believe we have to take way more advantage of his shooting and just maybe parking him in the corner a little more at times," he said.

That would be to give Edwards a little more room to operate. Earlier in the season, when both Towns and Gobert were playing, Edwards said he had trouble getting to the basket because the paint was clogged. That hasn't been the case recently.

For the Wolves to keep playing this way, Edwards will have to show the Wolves he can bring this effort on a consistent basis. He has made strides in that direction recently. He used to have issues with back-to-back games, but the past two times the Wolves have played on the tail end of a set of games, Edwards has played well.

If he can keep piecing it all together, Edwards will make the much-ballyhooed third-year leap that is expected of many young NBA stars who were high draft picks.

"He worked on his game a lot, like they all do," Finch said. "I didn't see that he put any undue pressure on himself for that. We were obviously hopeful that he would make that step. It looks like he is."

In a way that he didn't envision a season ago.