As the Minnesota Timberwolves gear up for the 2025-26 season, their star guard, Anthony Edwards, has drawn a clear line in the sand.
With championship aspirations burning brighter than ever, Edwards issued a stern warning about the two specific superstars standing between his team and their first-ever NBA Finals appearance: Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“We ain’t going to get to the Finals without going through Luka or Shai,” Edwards stated candidly, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “I just got to keep getting better. That’s the main thing.”
Edwards’ declaration is born from recent and painful history. The Timberwolves have been tantalizingly close to the championship series for two straight years, only to be sent home by teams led by the very players he named.
Doncic and Shai are Edwards’ nemeses
In the 2023-24 season, Minnesota fell to Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals in five games. The following year, in 2024-25, they suffered the exact same fate, losing in five games to Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City Thunder in the same round.
Now entering his sixth season, the three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA talent is acutely aware that individual accolades are not enough. Despite a stellar performance in last season’s playoffs-where he averaged 25.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 5.5 assists-the ultimate goal remains elusive.
Timberwolves assistant coach Chris Hines echoed the sentiment, framing this challenge as the next crucial step in Edwards’ evolution into a true superstar.
Edwards has to step up
“He’s gotten to the Western Conference Finals twice, which is hard to do. But he’s lost the same way,” Hines said. “At some point you have to take it a step forward. At some point you have to look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘What do I need to do to get it?'”
For Edwards and the Timberwolves, the path forward is clear. To finally break through and bring a title to Minnesota, they must solve the puzzles presented by their Western Conference nemeses in Doncic’s new team, the Los Angeles Lakers, and Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder.
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