Talk about a buzzkill. The Minnesota Timberwolves are having their best season since 2003-04, winning 56 regular season games and making it to the second round of the NBA playoffs. However, Craig Carton of FS1 believes that Anthony Edwards will be attracted by a larger-market team.
From The Carton Show on Monday, May 6: “I feel bad for you people in Minnesota; you seem like nice people, you seem like nice, good people. I see the future. You’re gonna lose (Anthony Edwards). You know you’re gonna lose him. You’re gonna lose him like every Minnesota-type town loses its stars. At some point, he’s gonna wake up and go — unless he wins a title, of course, which is absolutely on the table right now — but at some point, there’s gonna be an agent. And the agent’s gonna whisper in his ear, ‘New York, New York, New York. LA, LA, LA.’ And that’s what’s gonna happen.”
“For you die-hard basketball fans, you better enjoy it now. You better put your arms around and embrace it, and give it a big, fat tongue kiss because he ain’t gonna be there forever. You tell me a great player that didn’t leave Minnesota… Just tell me the last great player that didn’t leave Minnesota. The answer is that they all do.”
He’s Right, But He’s Also Wrong
Minnesota fans can show you a plethora of scars they’ve acquired from watching their favorite players leave for a bigger market. They’ve watched Randy Moss leave, Stephon Marbury skip town, Johan Santana move on and don’t forget, David Ortiz was a Minnesota Twins player for six seasons before they let him walk away.
In spite of that list of players they’ve had to say goodbye to, they’ve also had the privilege of watching Joe Mauer, hometown hero, start and finish his career with the Minnesota Twins. Then there’s Kirby Puckett, Harmon Killebrew and Kent Hrbek.
Yes, the fine folks of Minnesota have had their fair share of heartache, but there’s one comparison that proves Mr. Carton wrong.
What About KG?
Carton brought up the name of Kevin Garnett, trying to draw a parallel between Garnett and Edwards. Apparently, Carton forgot that Garnett played for the Timberwolves for 12 seasons before he finally requested a trade and how it didn’t have to do with not loving Minnesota.
Garnett’s trade request came after numerous front office flops by the Timberwolves. After getting Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell — which resulted in a Western Conference Finals trip — they simply got old (and Sprewell had to feed his family).
The Wolves would go into a rebuilding phase in the 2005-06 season, highlighted by the midseason trade that saw a package featuring Wally Szczerbiak go to Boston, getting a pupu platter surrounding Ricky Davis in return.
Add in a Brandon Roy for Randy Foye trade and absolutely unforgivable draft decisions, and it became apparent that Garnett wasn’t going to win a championship, thus his request to leave.
So Ant Is Staying?
Winning cures everything, and as of now, Edwards and the young Timberwolves are in a fantastic position to compete in the Western Conference for years to come. Yes, the Rudy Gobert trade handicapped the Wolves’ ability to build through the draft, but Edwards looks to be a generational talent.
At just 22 years old, the Atlanta, Georgia native averaged 25.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists for a team that was the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference before dealing with an injury to Karl-Anthony Towns. His game has been compared to Michael Jordan and this current playoff run is only strengthening that argument.
A key quote from Edwards shines a light on his mindset. When talking to the media, he said about facing the Denver Nuggets, “Going against the best player in the world is always enjoyable. Going against the best team in the world is always enjoyable.”
That sounds like someone who enjoys the opportunity to prove he deserves to be called the best by beating the best. Edwards isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, no matter what the talking heads say.
