Anthony Edwards Not 'Thinking About Winning a Championship' is Exactly What the Wolves Need

The Minnesota Timberwolves employ arguably the NBA’s greatest scoring shooting guard in Anthony Edwards. They have a relatively deep supporting cast around him and a payroll above the first apron of the luxury tax. They have made it out of the first round of the playoffs in three straight years, which has never been done before in franchise history.

With a certain level of urgency, the Timberwolves are gunning for a championship, as they should be. This summer, Wolves president Tim Connelly liquidated his only tradable first-round pick, three second-rounders, Naz Reid, and Julius Randle to pair LaMelo Ball with Edwards.

The trade is another big swing from Connelly to launch Minnesota closer to its championship goal. Local fans are chomping at the bit for this season to start. They, too, are ready for this team to return to the Western Conference Finals—where they were in 2024 and 2025 but failed to return last season—and legitimately compete for a championship again.

But Edwards is not thinking that far ahead. He knows the pressure on his team, but he also knows there is an 82-game regular season they must grind through before the bright lights of the playoffs flash on.

Minnesota’s leader focusing on the present is a great sign

"It would mean a lot [to win a championship] ... But right now, I don't think we're thinking about winning the championship," Edwards told ESPN in a recent interview in the Philippines. "It's step by step. We got LaMelo, a new player, and a bunch of new pieces."

All summer long, bits of information similar to that quote have surfaced indicating that Edwards has matured significantly. Head coach Chris Finch, who has a uniquely close relationship with Edwards, said in July that he has carried a greater team-first emphasis.

“Oftentimes players go into the summer … very focused on their game, what they need to do to get better,” Finch said. “He certainly always has that mindset, but I think now he's kind of looking at the team in a way that's, you know, with casting forward to what we need to do as a team to get better.”

Edwards has already been preparing for the down points during his first season with Ball. The two of them have been consistently working out together in Minneapolis. They also led talks on a team trip to visit Rudy Gobert in Paris earlier this month.

Edwards came into the league as an athletic scoring talent who couldn’t shoot well and maybe didn’t love basketball. He was ordering Popeyes and McDonald's after games and raving about his love for hot fries. That led to his early perception being that he was an unserious, immature player.

Maybe early on in his career, when he was still a teenager, that was true.

But six years after the Wolves drafted him No. 1 overall, that narrative has been debunked many times. His body fat percentage is very low. He backs up his overtly loud confidence with the shot-making and poise in big moments that few players have. He wants to make his teammates look good, always going out of his way to praise them. At the same time, he is willing to call both them and himself out when needed.

Edwards has developed into a mature, realistic leader, which he balances well with his euphoric, sometimes unbelievable play.

Anthony Edwards NBA Timberwolves — Anthony Edwards had a career year in 2025-26, but his team took a step backward as they struggled to remain mature and connected during difficult times. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Last season, Edwards averaged a career-high 28.8 points while operating as Minnesota’s de facto point guard, a positional shift that hampered his offensive capability. Still, he shot 48.9% from the floor, 39.9% from deep, and 55.4% from two-point range, which was also a career high.

He took a statistical step forward, but his team took a step back. The Wolves missed the Conference Finals, were not a mature bunch and grew apart when things went wrong. Edwards believed the team was looking too far ahead during the regular season. He didn’t believe that they established the habits necessary in the regular season to win a championship in June.

Alignment with his head coach

Finch echoed the same sentiment numerous times. He thought players grew bored with the regular season as a run-off of the playoff success they have experienced. Edwards and the team reassured Finch that things would be different in the playoffs. But ultimately, even after dispatching the Denver Nuggets in six first-round games, the Wolves flamed out in the second round against the San Antonio Spurs, similar to the way they did against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the West finals two years ago.

Minnesota’s lack of maturity and inability to establish winning habits in the regular season caught up with them. Edwards knows that, and now Minnesota’s leader appears to better understand just how important the regular season is. Not just from a record perspective, but from a chemistry, habit-building perspective.

“We are just trying to build it together, and I think we're trying to gel it all together,” Edwards further explained to ESPN.

It would be easy for Edwards and the Wolves to be thinking about the playoffs right now. Thinking about the excitement that will be in Target Center. Thinking about how they love playing in those games. Thinking about how if Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo didn’t get injured, maybe they could have forced a Game 7 and advanced. Thinking about the damaging double teams an injury-hobbled Edwards faced that ultimately put Minnesota’s hopes of upsetting San Antonio out of reach, and how Ball’s presence next to Edwards should prohibit that from happening again.

Instead, they are placing greater emphasis on the present behind their leader, who has matured exponentially from the perceived immature teenager coming out of Georgia. Now, he is committed to winning on the NBA’s greatest stage. So are the Timberwolves and their fans. But Edwards isn’t concerned about that right now. He appears focused on building the necessary framework in the regular season to reach those lofty goals in the postseason.

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