MINNEAPOLIS — In his four-plus NBA seasons, Anthony Edwards has never been afraid to speak his mind.
But the Minnesota Timberwolves star was particularly candid in a profanity-drenched explanation of his team’s recent struggles following a 115-104 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.
“I think internally we’re so soft as a team,” Edwards said. “Not for the other team, but internally we are soft. We can’t talk to each other. Just a bunch of little kids. Just like we play with a bunch of little kids. Everyone, the whole team. We just can’t talk to each other. And we have to figure it out because we can’t go down this road.”
Minnesota reached the 2024 Western Conference Finals. But the Timberwolves have lost four straight and seven of nine after starting 6-3 this season. A lineup that saw a significant shakeup late in the offseason with the Trade in Karl-Anthony Town still looks disjointed at times.
That includes blowing a 12-point fourth-quarter lead against Sacramento, a day after a 117-111 overtime loss to Houston at home.
“We definitely look like frontrunners tonight,” Edwards said Wednesday. “We were down, no one wanted to say anything. We stood up and everyone was cheering and excited. We go back downstairs and don’t let anyone say anything. That is the definition of a frontrunner. We as a team, including myself, were all front runners tonight.”
“Everyone has a different agenda right now,” he added. “I think that’s one of the main reasons why we’re losing.”
Edwards, who led the Timberwolves with 29 points on 9-of-24 shooting, didn’t just warn his teammates after the game. More than once he could be seen communicating demonstratively in the group with Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert and others.
Randle and guard Donte DiVincenzo were the top players in the October trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York three weeks before the start of the season. Both have experienced an up-and-down start to their tenures in the Twin Cities.
Cities have now done that comfortably installed with the Knicks.
However, Edwards said this isn’t just about the new guys.
“I’m talking about the whole team,” Edwards said. “As many of us are, all fifteen of us, we go into our own shells and just grow away from each other. It’s clear. We can see it. I can see it, the team can see it, the coaches can see it.”
This also applies to the fans, who expressed their collective dissatisfaction more than once on Wednesday evening.
“The fans are cheering for us,” said Edwards, whose team is 8-10 entering Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers. “That (stuff) is crazy, man. We are booed in our home arena. That’s so (incredibly) disrespectful, it’s insane.”
