MINNEAPOLIS — During his four seasons in the NBA, Anthony Edwards has never been afraid to speak his mind.
But the Minnesota Timberwolves star was particularly candid in his profanity-laced explanation of his team’s recent struggles after They lost to the Sacramento Kings 115-104 on Wednesday night.
“I think we’re soft inside as a team,” Edwards said. “Not to the other team, but internally we softened.” We can’t talk to each other. Just a bunch of little kids. Just like us, 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 that road.”
Minnesota advanced to the Western Conference Finals in 2024. But the Timberwolves have lost four straight and seven of nine after starting 6-3 this season. A lineup that experienced significant upheaval late in the offseason with the team Karl-Anthony Towns Store it 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 the frontrunners tonight,” Edwards said Wednesday. “We were down, nobody wanted to say anything. We got up and everyone (was) encouraged and (praised). We get down again and no one says anything. That is the definition of a leader. We as a team, myself included, were the leaders tonight.”
“Everyone has a different agenda at the moment,” he added. “I think that’s one of the main culprits why we’re losing.”
Edwards, who led the Timberwolves with 29 points on 9-of-24 shooting, wasn’t the only one admonishing his teammates after the game. More than once he could be seen demonstratively communicating in a huddle 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 season started. Both had an up-and-down start to their Twin Cities tenures.
Meanwhile, he has cities he settled down comfortably with the Knicks.
Edwards said it’s not just about the new guys.
“I’m talking about the whole team,” Edwards said. “However many of us there are, all 15 of us, we go into our own shells and just grow from each other. It’s clear. We can see it. I see it, the team sees it, the coaches see it too.”
So did the fans, who repeatedly expressed their collective displeasure on Wednesday night.
“The fans are going to boo us,” said Edwards, whose team is 8-10 heading into Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers. “That (stuff) is crazy, man. They boo us in our home arena. That’s so (horribly) disrespectful, it’s crazy.’