'Soft as hell' and 'different agendas': Anthony Edwards on what's wrong with the Wolves

Edwards didn't mince words about the team's issues after Wednesday night's loss to the Kings.

Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) and guard Anthony Edwards talk against the Sacramento Kings in the fourth quarter at Target Center in Minneapolis on Nov. 27, 2024. / Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

The Timberwolves led by 12 points with just over seven minutes remaining in Wednesday night's game against the Sacramento Kings at Target Center in Minneapolis. But things quickly unraveled, and the result was a 115-104 defeat.

It was the same story the night prior against the Houston Rockets. Minnesota led by five points in that one with just over three minutes left before the Rockets came back and forced overtime, where the Wolves fell apart in a 117-111 loss.

All in all, the Wolves have lost four straight games, and now they're two games under .500 at 8-10. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch described the losing streak like "Groundhog Day," they dig themselves a big hole and battle back before collapsing down the stretch. Over and over again. The same story has happened in every game during the losing skid.

On Wednesday it looked like a 12-0 run from the Kings that turned a seven-point lead into a five-point deficit. Malik Monk and De'Aaron Fox were scoring at will. Last season, Minnesota was excellent as closing with its defense. That was the team's identity. Anthony Edwards had harsh criticism after the game, diagnosing the Wolves with an identity problem.

"Our identity right now, me and Mike (Conley) was talking about it, I think is we soft as hell as a team, internally," Edwards said. "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."

Edwards said one of the primary issues is not listening to the coaches. "The sh*t that y'all see us doing on defense, like that's not what the coaches telling us to do," he said. He also said the team played like "front runners" Wednesday night, silent when things are unraveling but quick to talk when things are going well. And perhaps most damningly, Edwards said it felt like the team was drifting apart, a departure from the closeness of the last couple years. That isn't an issue with the new additions, he said, it's an issue that plagues every player on the roster. He said it needs to be addressed.

"Sometimes it's tough because like looking at everybody, and everybody got a different agenda," Edwards said. "It's like, what the f**k 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.”

The Wolves will need to get on the same page, and quickly. They'll be back in action Friday night when they host the Los Angeles Clippers in an NBA Cup group-play game at Target Center at 6:30 p.m., with hopefully a friendlier home crowd. The Target Center faithful have been booing the team of late, something Edwards called "disrespectful."