Anthony Edwards rips 'disrespectful' fans, "soft as hell" Timberwolves teammates after latest loss

The Timberwolves lost to the Kings on Wednesday night, falling to 8-10 on the season. Minnesota had high expectations after making a trip to the 2024 Western Conference Finals last year, but the trade of Karl-Anthony Towns looks to have been more of a setback than the front office expected. 

The Wolves have now lost four games in a row and seven of their past nine. Star guard Anthony Edwards had his frustrations boil over after the loss to Sacramento. During his postgame media interviews, Edwards called out his teammates in the locker room and even the home fans. 

Here's what Edwards said after Minnesota's latest loss. 

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Anthony Edwards rips teammates after loss to Kings: 'Soft as hell'

With KAT traded for Julius Randle and Donte DiVencenzo just a week before training camp, Edwards was forced into a larger leadership role. He has to be the one to set the tone in the locker room, and even he admits that he is still working on that. After a 12-point lead was squandered in the fourth quarter, turning into an 11-point loss, here's what Edwards had to say, starting with the team's defense. 

"We've been trying to figure this out for the whole year, man. We thought defense was our identity, and it's not looking like that. Our identity right now, me and Mike (Conley) was talking about it, I think is we soft as hell as a team, internally. Not to the other team, but like internally we soft, like we can't talk to each other. Just a bunch of little kids, just like we playing with a bunch of little kids. Like everybody, like the whole team, we just can't talk to each other and we gotta figure it out, man, because we can't go down this road."

Anthony Edwards kept it 💯 when I asked him about the teams defense. He said the identity of this team is “We soft as hell” pic.twitter.com/a9P9Mf4nX0

— SneakerReporter (@SneakerReporter) November 28, 2024

Edwards isn't wrong that defense was the identity for Minnesota last year. How could it not be? The frontcourt combo of Towns and Rudy Gobert made life tough on opponents down low, and Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker were terrors on the perimeter. Throw in Edwards and Mike Conley in the backcourt, Swiss-Army knife Kyle Anderson leading the second unit, and Naz Reid coming off the bench to add more size and athleticism, and you can see why the Timberwolves led the league in defensive efficiency. 

It isn't like Minnesota has gone from first to worst on defense this year, but they have fallen. Heading into Thanksgiving, the Timberwolves rank 11th in defensive efficiency. While a 10-spot drop isn't going to wreck a season, it is a large step back for a team whose identity was defense. Edwards isn't wrong in the shift in identity, and Minnesota will need to figure it out before the season gets away from them, especially with a tough December slate. 

Edwards went on to address the need for him to lead, but he also called out his teammates for not being on the same page with the same goals in mind. 

"Sometimes it's tough because like looking at everybody, and everybody got a different agenda. It's like, what the f--- am I supposed to say? I'm trying to get better in that aspect to figure out what the hell to say to get everybody on the same agenda because everybody right now is on different agendas. And I think that's one of the main culprits of why we're losing, like everybody out there got their own agenda like I guess their imagination of what supposed to be going on and what's really happening."

Anthony Edwards calls out 'disrespectful' fans

Edwards got on his soapbox to air his grievances, and he didn't stop with his teammates. He took some time to address the home crowd fans, who have shown how fickle fanbases can be when you are going through a rough patch. 

"The fans f---in' booing us. That shit is crazy, man. We're getting booed in our home arena. That's so f---in' disrespectful, it's crazy."

Fans were all-in last year when Minnesota was a Western Conference Finals away from the NBA Finals, and it had fans assuming that success would continue when the 2024-2025 season started. That hasn't been the case, and the home-court advantage may soon be nonexistent for the Timberwolves, making winning even more difficult. 

Timberwolves schedule

As of Thanksgiving, the Timberwolves are 8-10 and in third place in the 12th place in the Western Conference. Here's a look at Minnesota's next 10 games.