NBA: Minnesota Timberwolves at Utah Jazz
Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) and guard Anthony Edwards (5) shake hands after a play against the Utah Jazz on Nov. 10, 2025, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
All the Minnesota Timberwolves — as in, nearly every healthy player on the roster — posed for a photo over the weekend in front of the Eiffel Tower in France.
The photo is circulating on social media since players posted it in the midst of their trip abroad to visit and work with starting center Rudy Gobert as part of an athlete-led initiative to build chemistry with one another this offseason.
Good on Anthony Edwards, who stuck true to his word from 11 months prior.
It was Timberwolves Media Day in 2025 when Edwards on two separate occasions — first in a sit-down game of Uno with team broadcaster Michael Grady, and again in front of the press for his podium interview — lamented the group’s lack of offseason connectivity.
Edwards noted that he held a summer camp a year ago, as did former teammate Naz Reid, but neither even informed the other about their events.
It didn’t sit right with the Wolves’ superstar.
Edwards urged Reid to let him know the next time a camp took place, adding he was “going to come.”
“That’s where it starts. I think it starts in the summertime,” Edwards said last fall. “It’s just things guys don’t know because we’re not used to winning. I think winning starts with being together, and it starts in the summertime, man. We’ve got to be together. We’ve got to be a team.”
And not just one that attempts to mesh on the fly, as Minnesota has in recent seasons. Edwards has led that charge on countless instances. He calls it out when the Wolves aren’t playing as a team, and puts in the work via conversations and actions to get the team on the proper course.
But it’s one thing to do that when you’re in the practice facility and on the road together for nine consecutive months. It’s another to use your free time to further those efforts. For instance, after the 2022-23 campaign, Edwards suggested he would head to France that offseason to work with Gobert. It never happened.
Players have to be intentional about aligning schedules during the finite offseason. You have to value the time and what it can produce.
“The most important thing that I’ve learned, the teams that go deep in the playoffs, they’re together. Like, they really care about each other,” Edwards said last September. “It’s easy to say, ‘We brothers,’ and act like it. … We can’t wait until the All-Star break to try to become a team.”
The timing of last year’s quote felt off at the time. Edwards was discussing what needed to change when it was too late to do anything about it for last season. But it’s almost as if he was reiterating to himself what had to be different moving forward.
Actions are now matching words.
Which marks another major step forward in the maturation of Minnesota’s superstar and, now, unrivaled leader. There is no veteran like Mike Conley on this roster, nor a Joe Ingles or Kyle Anderson. The 25-year-old Edwards is leading the charge not just on the court, but in all aspects of team building.
That’s a taller task heading into this specific season.
There’s an acclimation process and meshing period that will be required as Minnesota integrates a new star point guard in LaMelo Ball who will not only bring a different style of play, but also create a domino effect that puts others in positions that have different on-court obligations than the ones they’ve been asked to do in the past.
Those transitions are smoother once a foundation is laid. You’re far more likely to make sacrifices and go the extra mile for a team if you truly believe you’re a part of it.
Edwards is applying past lessons to inform present decisions, which was the whole idea in the first place when Minnesota acquired Gobert four years ago. Edwards would grow up in a winning environment and not only develop positive habits, but also value culture and identify required areas of growth.
This trip is another clear sign that Edwards knows how to lead, and is willing to do so when the franchise needs it most.
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