Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards is paying the price for his recent courtside interaction with a fan. During Saturday’s victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, Edwards went viral over a heated exchange, where he was caught making an inappropriate comment toward a sideline heckler.
“Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards has been fined $50,000 for directing inappropriate language and making an obscene gesture toward a fan, it was announced today,” wrote the league in a statement.
It was a wild scene in the Crypto.com Arena as the Timberwolves completely dismantled the Lakers. With size and versatility in the frontcourt, the Wolves abused LA in the paint and shut them down with unrelenting physicality. All the while, Edwards was lighting them up on the court and trash-talking the whole way through.
The viral moment happened late in the third quarter after Edwards heard a Lakers fan going at his teammate, Rudy Gobert. He stood up for the big man but also took it to another level by getting personal with the guy in front of everyone.
The comment was a clear violation of the NBA’s policies, and the fans were not surprised to see Edwards handed a swift and steep fine, worth $50,000. Still, the move was controversial among the basketball community, and a lot of people were split on whether Edwards deserved it or not.
By the NBA’s standards, Edwards crossed the line with his vulgar comments, and it’s a bad look for both Edwards and the league as a whole.
“Add a zero,” wrote a fan on X. “Dude needs to grow up.”
While Edwards is a hard-working athlete on the court, his character is somewhat questionable, given his complicated personal history. The young star is confirmed to have three children with three different mothers, and he’s not involved with any of them. That ugly trend has not been lost among the fans.
“Anthony Edwards might have a ‘big’ d–k, but he is a small man,” wrote one X user. “He needs to stop having children out of wedlock.”
One thing about Edwards is that he doesn’t care about what anyone thinks. He’s going to do whatever it takes to protect his team and defend his legacy, even if it costs him $50K or more to do it.
“I mean, can we say morals? An older woman sitting right in front of his face when he said that to the crowd,” wrote one critic. “That’s someone’s mom, GMA, or wife! Kids sit down courtside. This man is acting like he didn’t have a dad in his life growing up, carry on…”
Anthony Edwards, 23, is the face of the Timberwolves and their leading star alongside Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert. After falling to the sixth seed this season, the Wolves were underdogs to beat the Lakers in round one, but Edwards is proving that they could pull off the upset.
After securing the victory in Game 1 and making headlines with a viral exchange, Edwards will be holding nothing back for tonight’s rematch. Win or lose, Edwards is not going to let anything change his ways, and he will never just sit back and watch when opposing fans start to harass one of his teammates.
