One of the most consistent themes of Anthony Edwards' season this year has been his ever-present candid nature. Minnesota Timberwolves fans have known about this quality of Edwards since his rookie year, but Ant has truly been letting his thoughts and actions go unfiltered in quite a big way this season.
Some of those ways have been more positive than others. Before this past weekend, he had already incurred multiple fines for using profane language in a live interview. The latest incident of this nature came on Saturday in the Wolves' close loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at home. After Rudy Gobert threw down a big dunk, Edwards flexed on the bench as a way of hyping up his teammate.
Inexplicably, the referee decided to give Ant a technical foul for this, which he was understandably not thrilled about. Edwards responded by throwing up a middle finger at the ref, a moment which was captured by a fan on social media. Joe Ingles was standing near Ant and attempted to calm him down a bit, but the damage was clearly done, and the league was not happy about it. The NBA hit him with a $50,000 fine for his actions.
Anthony Edwards on his latest fine (1/2): "I made a careless young, dumb mistake shooting birds. I got fans that's little kids, and I got parents that's looking at me, knowing their kid is a fan of me, looking at me like what type of, how can I say, role model is he ..."
— Chris Hine (@ChristopherHine) January 14, 2025
Edwards has incurred $285,000 in fines this season
That fine raised Edwards' season total for fine money up to a whopping $285,000. Considering Ant's high salary, that is not an extremely big number, but it is also not that small anymore either. Edwards' self-control has clearly become a point of discussion, and both he and Chris Finch were asked about it after Monday's win in Washington.
"I made a careless young, dumb mistake shooting birds," said Edwards. "I got fans that's little kids, and I got parents that's looking at me, knowing their kid is a fan of me, looking at me like what type of, how can I say, role model is he, shooting birds in the middle of a basketball game. That has nothing to do with the refs at all. That's all me mentally making a young, dumb mistake. I won't make it again."
Timberwolves reporter Chris Hine, who asked Ant about this, stated that Edwards' answer was genuine and pointed to a real desire to change his actions. Finch had his own thoughts on the matter as well.
"It's been addressed for sure," Finch said. "It's been addressed organizationally, individually. I think he's aware. We're all aware. He's extremely self-aware. I think he has emotional control for sure. I think he's frustrated on many levels. I think some of that frustration is certainly in & around the whistle no doubt, but he's just got to figure it out, play through it and he'll be fine."
Minnesota fans know that Edwards has certainly gotten a troublesome whistle this season at times, but part of Ant's journey is going to be watching him learn to mature and handle these things. We already see he is making progress.