Anthony Edwards under fire for zero-effort play against Rockets

Anthony Edwards looked less like a shooting guard and more like a stationary guard during Sunday’s game against the Houston Rockets.

The Minnesota Timberwolves star came under fire for a moment during the second quarter where he did … well, literally nothing for an entire offensive possession. All four of his teammates touched the ball in a halfcourt set, but Edwards stood motionless on the right wing with his hands on his hips the whole time. Take a look.

Anthony Edwards providing some nice off-ball gravity on this play pic.twitter.com/B6dp6lkPTs

— NBA University (@NBA_University) November 7, 2022

Needless to say, that is not the kind of effort that you want to see out of a former No. 1 overall pick and fledgling leader of your team. Even without possession, Edwards could have set an off-ball screen, could have cut to the corner to stretch out the defense, or could have crashed the offensive glass once the shot went up. Instead, Edwards chose to do none of the above in favor of playing a spontaneous game of freeze tag.

The 21-year-old Edwards has taken a step forward statistically this season with 22.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game (all of which are career-best tallies). But Edwards’ immaturity is really showing lately with his complaints about the team’s new offense as well as his inability to keep himself in proper shape (which is even annoying his other star teammates). At some point, Edwards may have to realize that he has an attitude problem to correct if he wants his team to go anywhere.