SI

Anthony Edwards Trash Talked His Childhood Idol Kevin Durant Amid Game 1 Outburst

Patrick Andres

Apr 20, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) looks on.
Apr 20, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) looks on. / Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
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Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards has a lot of words in his vocabulary, as we learned earlier this season.

Reverence is not one of them.

On Saturday, Edwards freely trash talked Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant—his childhood idol—as the Timberwolves cruised to a blowout win in Game 1 of their first-round series.

ABC cameras caught a gleeful Edwards walking backward while looking Durant directly in the eye and taunting him with just under a minute left in the third quarter. Durant, down 86-70 and the distributor of more than his fair share of trash talk across 16 NBA seasons, just smiled.

This past week, Edwards discussed his appreciation for Durant—and what it would mean to beat the future Hall of Famer.

"Now I know (Durant and Suns guard Devin Booker) will be playing alongside of me at the Olympics," Edwards said. "It's kind of bragging rights at this point. That's as much ammo as I need."

A 30-point outburst in Game 1 is a nice place to start.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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