Anthony Edwards made his feelings clear on suiting up for New York after Knicks fans once again asked him to come and play in the Big Apple.
In the offseason, Karl-Anthony Towns – Edwards’ teammate and close friend – was traded by the Timberwolves to the Knicks for a package headlined by Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Trading for Towns made the Knicks one of the best teams in the league while the Timberwolves continued to add pieces around Edwards.
Considering how close Edwards and Towns are, Knicks fans began pondering if the transcendent guard would fancy playing in New York. Speaking to fans after the Knicks’ 115-110 preseason win over the Timberwolves, Edwards made it clear he would be staying in Minnesota for the foreseeable future.
“Y’all —— finna be mad at me when I have an off game,” Edwards told the crowd as he waited for Towns to exchange jerseys. “When I play bad, y’all are gonna be like, ‘Boo!’ 82 games, I ain’t gonna be good.”
Knicks fans continue to be one of the most passionate fanbases in the NBA, as the team seeks its first championship since 1973. With Madison Square Garden – and the city of New York as a whole – known as the “Mecca of Basketball,” the expectations are always high for every Knicks team, as fans make their voices heard whenever the team plays.
And Edwards knows the history between fans and Knicks players. If a player does not perform to their standard, fans are quick to make their voices heard and that was what happened to French guard Evan Fournier.
After signing a four-year, $73 million contract with the Knicks, he played sparingly, seeing his minutes decrease with each passing season. He eventually was traded to the Detroit Pistons along with Quentin Grimes and when the two returned to New York for the first time, Fournier was greeted with boos from the crowd.
“Yeah, I was. Evan, that was my vet. He taught me a lot,” Grimes said at the time when asked if he was surprised by the Knicks fans’ reception. “I think when he got pushed to the bench, he was one of the guys pushing me a lot my rookie year. My whole second year, he was one of the guys telling me what to do out there, ’cause he’s been there.
“My rookie year, what’d he do? Break every knick record for 3s or something like that, fourth or fifth in made 3s in the whole league that year. So it was kind of not pleasant to see from the fans, but I thought he did a lot for this team. When I was here, he was always on time, always professional, but that’s Knicks fans for you, which is how it goes.”
And while Knicks fans might pine for Edwards, despite their reputation, the star guard will not be leaving the Timberwolves anytime soon, unless Minnesota elects to trade him. Edwards is signed to a designated rookie extension, keeping him in a Timberwolves jersey until 2028.
The contract is worth $244 million, with all of it guaranteed, showing just how much Minnesota believes in the young star to bring them to glory, which almost came to fruition last season. In the 2024 NBA playoffs, the Timberwolves swept Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns before defeating the Denver Nuggets in a seven-game series.
The Western Conference finals were a different beast altogether, however, with the Dallas Mavericks ousting the Timberwolves in five games. And considering how invested Minnesota is in Edwards, it could be a while before Knicks fans see him in anything other than a Timberwolves jersey.
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