Blamed For Ruining 22YO Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves Forced To Learn A Lesson From Lakers & Shaq

Going into the Western Conference Finals, the Timberwolves were considered a strong contender against the Mavs. After all, under the leadership of Anthony Edwards, they overcame the defending champions and reach this stage for the first time in 20 years! However, they now hold a 0-3 record and are a loss away from elimination. That led Chris Broussard and Rob Parker to speculate whether the Wolves were too hasty in bringing their 22-year-old leader to the spotlight.

On ‘The Odd Couple’, Broussard highlighted that in the 75+ years history of the NBA, there hasn’t been such a young boy who has led their respective franchise towards a championship. The reason? They are still in the early stages of their career. Even some of the greatest names had a veteran player on their side whom they could rely on. “Kobe (Bryant) had Shaq, and Mike, Magic (Johnson) had Kareem,” said Broussard.

“I was not thinking Anthony Edwards is better than those players or even on their level, but I thought as the team was good and even though he was the best player, he still had a really good supporting cast”.

Ever since the Timberwolves concluded their first two matchups in the WCF, Anthony Edwards admitted he was physically exhausted from all the previous games. It hampered his performance against the Mavericks. This is another reason why the 55-year-old commentator feels the need for the young star to have a good supporting cast backing him. While ‘Ant-Man’ earlier found support from teammates like KAT and Rudy Gobert, the same hasn’t been seen as much during this pivotal stage. The hosts of ‘The Odd Couple’ are not the only ones to have notice this.

Shaq rips Anthony Edwards’ teammate apart for not supporting the 22-year-old

Shaquille O’Neal, like many other analysts, has been keeping a close eye on Anthony Edwards and Co. as the season has progressed. When it came to their three consecutive losses against the Mavs, Shaq knew just who to blame: the team’s second highest average scorer Karl-Anthony Towns.

“When you have a great ‘1-2 punch’, you want your tagline to be ‘one=33, the other guy= 33. Karl-Anthony Towns has not played well, and he has not stepped up, he’s not helped ‘Ant’ Edwards out,” the 52-year-old said. “When you’ve got a 1-2 punch, both of them have to play great if you want to continue on and on”.

Shaq’s comments came after Anthony Edwards had dropped 26 points during Game 3, but his teammate fell short with 14. The reason lay in Towns’ shooting abilities, as he went 5-18 with his field goals, 0-8 three pointers and 4-5 free throws. This was something that the former Los Angeles Lakers veteran could not stand.

Want to know more about the latest news revolving around Shaquille O’Neal? Then, be sure to check out what his ex-agent, Leonard Armato, had to say about the marketing genius.