The Minnesota Timberwolves’ season came to an end on Friday night at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs in the form of a 30-point beatdown in front of a capacity home crowd at Target Center.
For the people of Minneapolis, it was another crushing blow to a sports town that has witnessed its fair share of “close, but no cigar” moments over the past several decades.
It will be another long offseason for Wolves fans after falling short of yet another conference championship appearance, a series they haven’t played in since their magical 2004 postseason run.
It’s not like they needed the knife to be twisted any more than it already was, but one man decided to take the suffering a step further, and it came from the unlikeliest of sources.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES ARE COOKED: WHY SAN ANTONIO SPURS CLOSE OUT THE SERIES AND COVER IN GAME 6
That’s T-Wolves superstar Anthony Edwards going to congratulate the Spurs on a well-played series, which is fairly normal in competitive sports, but take a look at the score graphic in the bottom left of the screen.
Just over eight minutes remained on the clock in the fourth quarter, but Edwards was already waving the white flag and dapping up the Spurs’ bench.
Sure, Minnesota was down by 33 points and there was no world where they were coming back, but maybe wait until the clock hits triple zeroes before glad-handing your opponents in front of your home fans.
I’ll never question Edwards’ competitive edge, as he’s one of the few modern NBA players who has that throwback, “don’t give a damn” attitude that the league desperately needs, but the optics on this one are pretty poor.
Fans weren’t thrilled with his display of sportsmanship either, if the comments on X are any indication.
At the end of the day, these are just salty fans and keyboard warriors, so their opinions probably mean next to nothing in the eyes of Edwards.
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But what about his peers? Or, better yet, how do the legends who played the game before him feel about the move?
Dirk Nowitzki, Blake Griffin and Udonis Haslem weren’t impressed, with Nowitzki going so far as to say he’s never seen anything like it in his two decades of playing in the NBA.
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I’m sure the intent from Edwards was pure, but it was obviously not a well-received move from the T-Wolves’ leader.
He’s young. He’ll learn. But this was a rare miss from the Ant-Man.