With eight minutes left and the Timberwolves down 30, Anthony Edwards walked to the San Antonio bench and started shaking hands. The series wasn’t officially over. The clock was still running. And the backlash was immediate.
Minnesota lost Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals 139-109, and Edwards finished with 24 points. But what everyone is talking about isn’t his stat line. It’s that handshake line that happened nearly a full quarter before the buzzer.
Edwards explained himself postgame without much hesitation. “At that point, you know you ain’t going back in, so you just trying to get them the respect they deserve.” Simple. Direct. No second-guessing.
Former players were not as understanding. Dirk Nowitzki said he’d never seen anything like it in his decades around the league. “A guy walking into the huddle with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter and dapping up the entire team? Too much for me,” Nowitzki said. Udonis Haslem was more pointed: “As a leader of my troops and my guys, I would not have shown that weakness.”
The counterargument is real, though. The game was over. The Wolves were down by more than they’d overcome in any remaining possession combination. Edwards wasn’t quitting on the game, he was acknowledging reality with more class than most players show after a difficult playoff exit. Some read that as maturity. Others read it as giving up.
What makes this worth debating is what it says about Edwards as a leader. He’s the face of that franchise, and his emotional temperature sets the tone for everyone around him. Whether you think the gesture showed respect or resignation says more about your personal philosophy than it does about Edwards’ character.
The Timberwolves are headed to another offseason of questions. How Edwards carries this moment into next year will matter more than the gesture itself.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
