Anthony Edwards: 'Super Hard' to Stay Engaged amid Double Teams, Talks Frustration

Frustration is mounting for Anthony Edwards amid a mediocre start to the season for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Speaking to reporters after Thursday's 118-115 loss to the Boston Celtics, Edwards called it "super hard" to stay engaged when he's being forced to pass the ball due to all of the double teams he's seeing even though it's the right play to make.

Trading away Karl-Anthony Towns late in the offseason has caused Minnesota's offense to slip this season. They weren't great in 2023-24, ranking 16th in rating and 18th in points per game, but that was good enough since they had the No. 1 defense in rating and points allowed.

Through the first 34 games this season, though, the Wolves rank just 20th in rating and 22nd in points per game. Their defense has also taken a step back to seventh in rating, putting more pressure on the offense to score points.

When Minnesota made the Towns trade with the New York Knicks, the hope was that Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle would be able to make up for his offense. Randle has been fine with 20.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

DiVincenzo has been a huge disappointment with a 35.9 percent success rate from three-point range, compared to 40.0 percent on 7.1 attempts in the previous two seasons.

Another big problem is Mike Conley Jr. is finally starting to show his age. The 37-year-old is shooting a career-low 35.5 percent from the field and is averaging his fewest assists per game (4.4) since the 2019-20 season.

Opposing defenses have figured out they can zero in on Edwards without having to pay too much attention to the Timberwolves' other shooters. He started the season on a torrid pace, averaging 28.0 points on 42.6 percent three-point shooting with 11.2 three-point attempts per game in his first 17 starts.

Since Nov. 27, Edwards has regressed to 20.7 points per game with a 38.5 percent three-point success rate on 8.1 attempts per game in 16 starts. He has six games with fewer than 20 points during this stretch after scoring at least 21 points in each of his first 17 starts.

Edwards had 15 games with at least 20 field-goal attempts in his first 19 starts, but he has hit that total just six times in the last 14 games.

Given the limited scoring options the Timberwolves currently have, head coach Tom Thibodeau and his staff need to find ways to open up the floor for Edwards. The biggest thing that can change to help Edwards and improve the offense is getting DiVincenzo going because it would force other teams to respect another shooter on the floor.

After reaching the conference finals last season, the Timberwolves are currently eighth in the West with a 17-16 record. They haven't been more than three games over .500 at any point this season.