Already a three-time NBA All-Star, Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves is still only 23 years old. He is playing only his fifth NBA season, only his fourth NBA postseason, and has gotten beyond the first round for only the second time in his career. And yet in that time, Edwards has already set a Timberwolves franchise record.
Edwards’ Wolves team closed out their Western Conference Semi-Final series victory over the Golden State Warriors last night with a 121-110 victory in Game Five, which will send them back to the Western Conference Finals for the second consecutive season. This, by quite some way, is the purpliest of purple patches in franchise history.
Between their debut season in 1989-90 and the advent of the Edwards Era in 2020, the Timberwolves only made one Conference Finals before, when they lost to the L.A. Lakers in the 2003-04 season. This was also the first time the franchise had ever made it beyond the first-round of the playoffs, even with the great Kevin Garnett then at the height of his powers.
And until Edwards came along, it was also the last time, too.
Already A Record-Setter
Because of the franchise’s anemic performance historically, there is not exactly a litany of great Timberwolves playoff performances in the history books to look back on. On the plus side, though, this means the door is wide open for new baselines to be set. And with a victory last night, Edwards has already done so.
The aforementioned Garnett remains the franchise’s all-time leader in postseason games played, with 47. But of those 47 games, because of all the first-round losses, the Big Ticket was only on the winning side in 17 of them.
Until this season, tied with Garnett as the all-time leader in Timberwolves individual playoff victories was his forebear as a first overall pick, Karl-Anthony Towns. In his 32 postseason appearances with the Wolves prior to his trade to the New York Knicks before this season began, Towns had compiled a 17-15 record, matching Garnett in the win total with 15 fewer losses in the process. Until this season, Towns had been the Wolves’ most successful playoff player.
Not now, though.
With 37 playoff appearances following last night’s game, Edwards has surpassed Towns for second on the appearances list. [His fellow 2020 draftee Jaden McDaniels, whose time with the Timberwolves has otherwise exactly paralleled that of Edwards, is at only 32 postseason appearances due to missing some games with a broken hand in 2023.] And with the series victory over the Warriors, Edwards took sole possession of the most playoff victories as a Wolf, now standing alone at the top with 20.
Setting The Timberwolves’ New Standards
More records and higher baselines for Ant-Man are just around the corner.
For example, Edwards is also just 35 points away from passing Garnett to become the Timberwolves all-time playoff scoring leader. With at least four more games still to come, the man who just averaged 26.2 points per game against the Warriors will surpass that mark quickly and easily.
From there, it will require only four more victories for Edwards to lead the Wolves to new heights altogether. Standing between them and the first NBA Finals appearance in franchise history is one mere series, between either the Oklahoma City Thunder or Denver Nuggets. And with a week of rest to enjoy from closing out the Warriors series early, Edwards’s young 23-year-old legs will be particularly fresh.
James Wiseman, meanwhile, is currently out of basketball altogether.
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