The Minnesota Timberwolves will have a lot at stake in their final game of the regular season on Sunday, and they could be without their best player for the contest.
Anthony Edwards was assessed his 18th technical foul of the year during the Timberwolves’ 117-91 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. Unless the technical foul is rescinded, Edwards will receive an automatic one-game suspension.
Edwards was whistled for the technical after he questioned a personal foul that was called against him while he was guarding Keon Johnson midway through the second quarter. Crew chief Bill Kennedy told a pool reporter after the game that Edwards used profanity toward referee Ray Acosta.
It didn’t look like Edwards did much, but apparently what he said was the issue.
Anthony Edwards with his 18th technical foul of the 2024-2025 NBA season 😳
— TrendingSportsPodcast (@TrendingSportsP) April 12, 2025
He will be suspended for Sunday’s game against the Utah Jazz pic.twitter.com/DFCPs7YNP7
Edwards admitted after the game that he used profanity while questioning the call. He said he is hopeful the NBA will rescind the technical, however.
“I tried to play good defense. They called a foul,” Edwards said, via The Associated Press. “And he gave me a tech. I hope they look at it and rescind it, so I can play in a couple days.”
Edwards added that he did not feel he deserved a technical foul for “just that little gesture.” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch agreed, telling reporters that he did not believe “there was anything egregious or overly demonstrative.”
Under NBA rules, a player or coach who receives 16 technical fouls in a season is automatically suspended for one game. Every two additional technical fouls after that trigger another one-game suspension. Edwards picked up his 16th technical in February over his role in an altercation with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Western Conference standings are extremely tight. The Timberwolves are in seventh heading into Sunday’s season finale against the Utah Jazz, but they could wind up as high as fourth or as low as eighth. That would be the difference between home-court advantage in the opening round or potentially having to play a play-in game.
The Jazz are tied for the worst record in the NBA at 17-64, but Minnesota would still prefer to have Edwards on the floor for their extremely important final game.
