Anthony Edwards out for Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves will be without Anthony Edwards for the trip to the Utah Jazz, owing to indiscipline in the loss to the LA Lakers on Thursday.

Edwards picked up two technical fouls in the 111-102 defeat and was ejected with 5:21 remining in the third quarter. While exiting the court, Edwards threw the game ball into the crowd, earning a delay-of-game warning for his troubles.

The first technical came during a confrontation with Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt and both players were called for the foul after exchanging pushes. The second was the result of comments made to referee Brent Barnaky, a sign of frustration after a no-call when Edwards was clipped on a drive.

Crew chief James Williams explained that Edwards "was issued his second unsportsmanlike technical foul for directing profanity towards a game official" and he now looks set to miss the trip to Utah.

Why isn’t Anthony Edwards playing for Minnesota?

Edwards' expulsion ended hopes of a late comeback against the Lakers and the team will almost certainly have to manage without the star on Friday. Those two technicals in LA took Edwards' tally for the season to 16, enough to earn an automatic one-game suspension from the league.

He will only be sparred a ban if the NBA office decides to rescind one of those two technical fouls, a very unlikely prospect. Speaking in the postgame Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch outlined his frustration with Edwards, who becomes the first player since DeMarcus Cousins in 2016/17 to receive 16 technical fouls before March.

“He’s gotta be better,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He’s had too many outbursts. I think a lot of them are deserved. They’re going to miss some calls from time to time for sure, so he’s gotta be better. We’ve been talking to him about it, so it’s on him.”

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