Anthony Edwards made a shocking gesture in the elimination game against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday. With eight minutes still left in regulation, Ant-Man shook hands with the Spurs team, drawing sharp reaction from three-time NBA champion Udonis Haslem. 

For Udonis, Edwards showed weakness as a leader, and that’s not how the Timberwolves should have exited the season.

"As great as Ant is as a basketball player, there's still some growth for him as well,” Haslem said on Prime Video's postgame coverage. “Because as a leader, I would not have walked down there and shook their hands. I would not have walked down there and shook their hands with 8 minutes left in the game.”

During a timeout in the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves were down 33 points. Edwards walked towards the Spurs’ bench and shook hands with the coaching staff and the players in the huddle.

While Haslem empathized with the anger that Edwards felt after losing to Victor Wembanyama and Co., he said it sent the wrong message to his teammates. 

"As a leader of my troops and my guys, I would not have shown that weakness. The game is not over, I've got 8 minutes left, I've still got smoke coming out of my ears because I'm so damn mad that we [are] losing.

"Let me calm down for those 8 minutes since I'm not in, and after those 8 minutes, I'll go down there and congratulate them and their coaching staff."

Edwards was asked about his strange behavior during the post-game presser.

He said that he knew that he wasn’t going back into the game, so he was “trying to give them their respect."

The Timberwolves lost the game 139-109. Edwards scored 24 points on 9 of 26 shooting.

Anthony Edwards Cites Poor Execution in Timberwolves Exit

The Timberwolves' season ended with significant questions about their consistency. They had a shaky season, finishing sixth in the Western Conference.

However, the expectations were never low for the Timberwolves. After the 4-2 series loss to the Spurs in the second round, Edwards blatantly said that his team wasn’t ready to compete for the title. 

"I feel like you're supposed to build championship habits or playoff habits in a regular season," Edwards told reporters. "No, we didn't build the habits during the regular season."

Despite a deep roster, Minnesota struggled to maintain championship habits. However, it would still be hard to call them a championship-caliber team without a secondary offensive star player alongside Edwards.

But Edwards denied that his team needed any changes to compete for the title.

"I feel like we're good," he said.

The Timberwolves dealt with some injuries during the playoffs. Edwards wasn’t at his best in terms of health.

They also lost Donte DiVincenzo to a torn Achilles. Questions remain whether a healthy roster would have changed the series outcome.

Would you make roster changes if you were the Timberwolves? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Nandjee Ranjan

Edited by

Utsav Gupta