To keep winning, Wolves need Anthony Edwards to shake out of slump

Edwards has been struggling a bit, relative to his standards, over the past month or so.

Dec 29, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) looks on against the San Antonio Spurs in the second half at Target Center. / Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Anthony Edwards is in a bit of slump right now. If the Wolves are going to keep winning, they need their superstar to shake out of it and get back to the way he was playing to begin this season.

Over the first 18 games of the season, Edwards averaged 28.1 points on 45.9 percent shooting and a blistering 42.7 percent mark from three-point range. Over the last 13, he's averaging just 20.5 points on 41.6 percent shooting and a still-strong 38.1 percent from deep.

After scoring 14 points on 6-of-20 shooting (1-of-9 from three) in Sunday night's win over the Spurs, Edwards' season-long scoring average has dipped below 25 points for the first time all year. He wasn't held under 20 points once in the first 19 games of the season, and now it's happened six times in the last 12.

And while Edwards is tied with former teammate Malik Beasley for the NBA lead with 125 made threes this season, he's also just 22 of 63 (35 percent) from distance over the last eight games. He's still been brilliant at times, most notably in burying a game-winning stepback triple against the Rockets on Friday, but the consistency of his scoring has fallen off a bit.

Buckets aside, Edwards' 124 assists to 95 turnovers on the season (1.31 ratio) continue to represent a slight step back from last season, when he had 405 assists and 241 TOs (1.68 ratio). Those numbers become a bit more noticeable when he's not scoring at an elite level.

Edwards is still clearly the Wolves' alpha and best player. He's averaging 24.9 points and 5.6 rebounds on basically 44/41/80 shooting splits. He's on pace to make his third consecutive All-Star team. But he's also in a slump right now, which is probably understandable for a 23-year-old who is still meshing with a new-look group after the preseason blockbuster trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

As 2025 approaches, now would be a helpful time for Edwards to get back to his October and November levels of production. The Wolves' three-game winning streak is going to be put to the test in a big way this week against the Thunder and Celtics, and they'll need Ant to be at his best if they're going to have a chance in those matchups.

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