Anthony Edwards has already climbed into the kind of company most No. 1 picks never reach. He’s the clear face of the Minnesota Timberwolves, heading into his seventh NBA season with the kind of killer instinct that makes him one of the league’s most feared names. Before he turns 26 next August, there’s still more room to grow - and if the Wolves are serious about championship aspirations, Edwards has three non-negotiables to hit this season.
Start with the defense. Chris Finch didn’t need much time when asked by WCCO’s Chad Hartman what his superstar needs to sharpen.
Edwards has the switch, and when it flips on, he turns into a lockdown perimeter defender who keeps opponents in front of him, forces turnovers, and looks every bit like an elite two-way player. The issue is consistency.
He can defend at an All-NBA level when he’s locked in, and Minnesota clearly needs that version more often. Last season, some of the drop-off made sense because he was carrying so much of the offense.
This year, with LaMelo Ball running the offense, there should be more energy left for Edwards on the other end. That matters even more for a Wolves team thin on size, rim protection, and rebounding outside of Rudy Gobert and Joan Beringer.
Edwards is also taking on more leadership, and Minnesota needs its backcourt to set the tone with constant pressure at the point of attack - something the team struggled to do last season.
The next piece is more about feel than force. Edwards wants to be the best player on the floor every night, and more often than not, he probably believes he is.
That mentality fuels the scoring outbursts and the big moments. But this season, the Wolves need him to balance that urge with a willingness to let others share the load.
Last year, he shot 47.8% on catch-and-shoot threes, and he hasn’t been below 41% on those looks since his rookie season. Even so, he only attempted 138 catch-and-shoot threes, which ranked 205th in the league.
Part of that was the 63 games he played. Part of it was the way he handled the ball more like a point guard than a shooting guard.
With Ball now next to him, Minnesota wants Edwards sliding back into his natural role and embracing more work off the ball so the offense moves cleaner and Ball can do more of what he does best.
That becomes even more important while Donte DiVincenzo is out after recently beginning on-court work while rehabbing a torn Achilles tendon. DiVincenzo led the NBA in catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts last season with 498, and the Wolves will miss the spacing he brought. Edwards can help cover that absence if he buys into the off-ball work and keeps his defensive level high.
Then there’s the part of Edwards’ game that already looks built for the biggest moments. In the regular season last year, he scored the sixth-most clutch-time points in the NBA with 135 and shot 56.5% from the floor.
He did that in just 93.8 clutch minutes, well below the workload of the other players in the top 10. Edwards has become a true late-game weapon, the guy who can set off the Target Center crowd and swing a game with one possession.
But the playoffs showed the counterpunch. The San Antonio Spurs doubled him repeatedly, and in 14.6 clutch-time postseason minutes, he went 1-for-5 with two turnovers.
Ball should help there too. With another creator beside him, defenses won’t be able to load up on Edwards as aggressively.
That should give him a better chance to keep winning those late-game possessions, whether that eventually leads to Clutch Player of the Year or simply gives Minnesota a steadier closer when the games tighten. Either way, Edwards being more inevitable in clutch situations would push both him and the Wolves closer to the goals they’ve set.
In Other News...
Chris Finch Just Framed The Wolves Biggest Playoff Debate
Chris Finch has spent enough time around the playoffs to know the old formulas can stop working fast, and he used that backdrop to frame a bigger conversation about how Minnesota wants to operate going forward. The Timberwolves coach pointed to the limitations of teams that lean too heavily on one ball-dominant creator, then tied that lesson to the kind of roster balance he believes gives a team a better chance when the games tighten in May.
Minnesota, in Finchs view, is moving toward a more layered attack instead of asking one player to carry every possession. With LaMelo Ball in the mix, the Wolves can ease Anthony Edwards into more of a scoring role and spread the decision-making around, which fits Finchs bigger point about depth and interchangeable pieces. The question now is whether that approach can give Minnesota the kind of playoff edge so many star-driven teams spend years chasing. [Read more 🡒]
Rob Dillingham Faces The Same Problem Timberwolves Fans Know Well
Rob Dillinghams path has taken another turn, and it comes with a familiar kind of challenge for Timberwolves fans who have watched him fight for a foothold at the NBA level. After struggling to secure consistent playing time in Minnesota and then again in Chicago, the young guard has now landed in Charlotte, where the opportunity looks fresh but the competition for minutes does not.
The Hornets already have a crowded backcourt, and Dillingham is walking into a situation where every possession will matter. Questions about his shooting, his physicality and how much overall impact he can make have followed him from stop to stop, and now the pressure shifts to proving he can carve out a role before the guard rotation closes in around him. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Camp Battle Could Shake Up Minnesotas Back-End Roster
The Timberwolves have quietly filled out their training camp roster with a trio of newcomers in Norchad Omier, Drew Timme and KJ Martin, giving the front office a few more names to sort through as the season approaches. Omier and Timme come in as undrafted players with G League and limited NBA experience, while Martin brings the kind of prior NBA background that can make a back-end roster spot a little more interesting than it first appears.
Minnesota is looking at all of that talent in the context of a broader camp group that also includes additions like LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga, which should make for a more crowded evaluation process than usual. The real intrigue is how the Wolves sort the depth chart once the competition settles in, especially with the kind of two-way opening that can turn an overlooked camp invite into a real chance to stay. [Read more 🡒]