Minnesota Sports Forum

I'm sure most of us have seen local reporting (Jon K and others) that counters the national nonsense about Ant's happiness, but today Big Perk on First Take said this: (note: I paraphrased a little fluff out the quote)

"I'm telling you that Anthony Edwards is happy. I'm telling you right now he has the belief in Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Ayo. This is how he want to rock. They have a certain type of brotherhood over there and he believes that those guys are going to get better. I'm telling you, I had to make calls this morning, but I had to do my research that Ant is cool and happy rollin with the guys he has in the locker room."

TheGrey08 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2026 4:30 pm I'm sure most of us have seen local reporting (Jon K and others) that counters the national nonsense about Ant's happiness, but today Big Perk on First Take said this: (note: I paraphrased a little fluff out the quote)

"I'm telling you that Anthony Edwards is happy. I'm telling you right now he has the belief in Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Ayo. This is how he want to rock. They have a certain type of brotherhood over there and he believes that those guys are going to get better. I'm telling you, I had to make calls this morning, but I had to do my research that Ant is cool and happy rollin with the guys he has in the locker room."

I’m sure you saw the Jaden reaction when some douche blindsided him with his phone to break the Julius trade news to him. Jaden is a pretty dial tone guy but he was obviously not upset by that news. I’m sure he went right to his text feed with Ant to celebrate.

BeenLurkin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2026 4:50 pm I’m sure you saw the Jaden reaction when some douche blindsided him with his phone to break the Julius trade news to him. Jaden is a pretty dial tone guy but he was obviously not upset by that news. I’m sure he went right to his text feed with Ant to celebrate.

Yeah that was interesting lol.. just "oh that's crazy"

TheGrey08 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2026 4:30 pm I'm sure most of us have seen local reporting (Jon K and others) that counters the national nonsense about Ant's happiness, but today Big Perk on First Take said this: (note: I paraphrased a little fluff out the quote)

"I'm telling you that Anthony Edwards is happy. I'm telling you right now he has the belief in Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Ayo. This is how he want to rock. They have a certain type of brotherhood over there and he believes that those guys are going to get better. I'm telling you, I had to make calls this morning, but I had to do my research that Ant is cool and happy rollin with the guys he has in the locker room."

I think Perk was spot on. Of course, Stephen A and the other guy didn’t like what Perk had to say because it didn’t fit the national media narrative of an unhappy Ant wanting to leave a franchise that’s spiraling down. Perk is far better connected to players than Stephen A. But you don’t have to be connected to know that Perk is right. You just have to watch recordings of Randle in the playoffs - his play and body language - to see that his teammates including Ant would have no problem with a decision to move him this offseason. You don’t have to know much about basketball to understand that Randle was a poor fit with Ant and likely a source of frustration for Ant.

The national medial will always search for drama and invent negative narratives for drama’s sake. That’s what they do. Ultimately, the Wolves are no different than any other team in the NBA. All teams want to win a championship and right now the path to success goes through New York, San Antonio and Oklahoma City. The Wolves have an edge over the vast majority of the other teams chasing those top three in that the Wolves have a young bona fide superstar and a core of talented players of similar age around him. Do they need to add more? Yes. Do they need improvement from each member of their young core of Jaden, Naz, Ayo, Beringer, TSJ? Yes. But we have Ant and most teams lack a player of that quality who is just entering the front end of his prime. The key is to keep improving from within and without and to be within striking distance when the opportunity arises.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2026 12:33 am

TheGrey08 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2026 4:30 pm I'm sure most of us have seen local reporting (Jon K and others) that counters the national nonsense about Ant's happiness, but today Big Perk on First Take said this: (note: I paraphrased a little fluff out the quote)

"I'm telling you that Anthony Edwards is happy. I'm telling you right now he has the belief in Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Ayo. This is how he want to rock. They have a certain type of brotherhood over there and he believes that those guys are going to get better. I'm telling you, I had to make calls this morning, but I had to do my research that Ant is cool and happy rollin with the guys he has in the locker room."

I think Perk was spot on. Of course, Stephen A and the other guy didn’t like what Perk had to say because it didn’t fit the national media narrative of an unhappy Ant wanting to leave a franchise that’s spiraling down. Perk is far better connected to players than Stephen A. But you don’t have to be connected to know that Perk is right. You just have to watch recordings of Randle in the playoffs - his play and body language - to see that his teammates including Ant would have no problem with a decision to move him this offseason. You don’t have to know much about basketball to understand that Randle was a poor fit with Ant and likely a source of frustration for Ant.

The national medial will always search for drama and invent negative narratives for drama’s sake. That’s what they do. Ultimately, the Wolves are no different than any other team in the NBA. All teams want to win a championship and right now the path to success goes through New York, San Antonio and Oklahoma City. The Wolves have an edge over the vast majority of the other teams chasing those top three in that the Wolves have a young bona fide superstar and a core of talented players of similar age around him. Do they need to add more? Yes. Do they need improvement from each member of their young core of Jaden, Naz, Ayo, Beringer, TSJ? Yes. But we have Ant and most teams lack a player of that quality who is just entering the front end of his prime. The key is to keep improving from within and without and to be within striking distance when the opportunity arises.

Yep, spot on. People point to the youth of OKC and SA. Well this is the young core. Challenge them and add to it over the next couple weeks. Then maybe dangle the trade exception at the deadline unless something comes up sooner.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2026 12:33 am

TheGrey08 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2026 4:30 pm I'm sure most of us have seen local reporting (Jon K and others) that counters the national nonsense about Ant's happiness, but today Big Perk on First Take said this: (note: I paraphrased a little fluff out the quote)

"I'm telling you that Anthony Edwards is happy. I'm telling you right now he has the belief in Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Ayo. This is how he want to rock. They have a certain type of brotherhood over there and he believes that those guys are going to get better. I'm telling you, I had to make calls this morning, but I had to do my research that Ant is cool and happy rollin with the guys he has in the locker room."

I think Perk was spot on. Of course, Stephen A and the other guy didn’t like what Perk had to say because it didn’t fit the national media narrative of an unhappy Ant wanting to leave a franchise that’s spiraling down. Perk is far better connected to players than Stephen A. But you don’t have to be connected to know that Perk is right. You just have to watch recordings of Randle in the playoffs - his play and body language - to see that his teammates including Ant would have no problem with a decision to move him this offseason. You don’t have to know much about basketball to understand that Randle was a poor fit with Ant and likely a source of frustration for Ant.

The national medial will always search for drama and invent negative narratives for drama’s sake. That’s what they do. Ultimately, the Wolves are no different than any other team in the NBA. All teams want to win a championship and right now the path to success goes through New York, San Antonio and Oklahoma City. The Wolves have an edge over the vast majority of the other teams chasing those top three in that the Wolves have a young bona fide superstar and a core of talented players of similar age around him. Do they need to add more? Yes. Do they need improvement from each member of their young core of Jaden, Naz, Ayo, Beringer, TSJ? Yes. But we have Ant and most teams lack a player of that quality who is just entering the front end of his prime. The key is to keep improving from within and without and to be within striking distance when the opportunity arises.

Let's set aside what er Edwards wanted or didn't want for a minute.

It seems to me based on the somewhat limited info I have that Randle didn't want to be here anymore. He thought he was gonna be traded and then basically did the classic if you don't want want me I'm gonna check out so I'm maybe hurt less when it happens. I'm sure that when they had discussions about signing his current deal that Naz may end up being the starter someday and then something would need to be done. Randle may have even said he would be willing to come off the bench if Naz took that next step. For some reason Randle seems to not being able to get over the Wolves considering dealing him to get a player like Giannis...or maybe there were other discussions we don't know about but he did.

So if Randle wasn't all in why would Edwards want that guy on his team? I wouldn't. I don't want to have to convince someone to stay on my team if they simply aren't happy. I have a coworker that's currently really frustrated with some things at work. I'm gonna support them but I'm not gonna convince them to stay if they get other opportunities which they have been basically offered other opportunities in the past. In one case I'm not sure why they didn't pursue it. Edwards despite some flaws seems like a guy that's either all in or thinks he is. Randle going elsewhere is good for everyone. I wish him well it was time to move. The Wolves will be able to add some talent this off-season to build the roster and help replace some of what Randle brought to the team because it wasn't all bad. The thing that might look even worse was Finch and Connelly I think genuinely said good things about him after the season ended and Randle was nowhere to be found. If I was Edwards that would not sit well with me. Randle is a human being and while some of it is his doing is now on another team not wanted despite doing good things...that's gotta suck and I think he is aware he didn't play well in the playoffs and he probably knows he is capable of being better than that.

As for the national media. I personally have gotten to the place where generally I do not give a fuck. Who cares what SAS thinks? Seriously. Why should I care? Perkins? Don't give a shit. I genuinely have more interest what people here think or some other friends or family members that I actually talk to about sports what their takes are. My friend that's a Kings fan is excited about the draft pick tonight! I'd rather hear what my boss thinks about sports and she isn't a sports person but knows more than she lets on. That one guy that is ok Twitter like he is some insider but seems like he is just saying shit...that stuff gets old.

I'll say this though to some extent I give sports media people a bit of a break. If I was getting paid to talk sports for hours a week I would say some dumb stuff too but sometimes it seems to get ridiculous. I'm not saying I completely ignore the national media (and they are doing a job which many get paid well for) but I'm not giving them a ton of my time especially if they seem to have nothing meaningful to tell me. It kinda reminds me of when Jeff Van Gundy was a young guy and wasn't sure if he would be able to be a coach in this league and Pat Riley said something like if players know you can help them win they will let you coach them. I'm not listing to some dude on a screen if they don't know anything worthwhile. I'm cool if they have a take different than me but sometimes I swear they don't even know what they are talking about. My favorite was a season or two ago I was watch the the pregame (which I typically never listen to) for a Vikings game they were talking about how the other team was going to have to account for Van Ginkel. I was like it's gonna be pretty easy since he was ruled out for the game 2 days ago. WTF. Now as Lip painted out it sounds like Perk had some worthwhile info in this case. Not all national media are useless all the time!

The best time filler in sports talk is a top tier player getting traded and the process of demanding a trade or forcing one. It literally feeds the pundits family’s for the whole year. They have had Giannis for a looooong time and now they have no story. They need to drum up the next one and to be fair it is Ants turn more or less. That’s to be expected and it really just means that the wolves have done what it takes to put a top talent in position to win. That’s a good thing. It’s now nationally expected that we support the opportunity with roster moves that build around Ant. Which we have and continue to do. There has been zero noise coming from inside the house. But for a while there was no internal noise with Giannis. He said all the right things and that’s the professional courtesy that allows a team like Milwaukee to recoup assets.

No matter how we do in the Prime Ant window over the next 3-5 seasons the likelihood is that Ant will end up being traded. Thats just the way these things go. The top 5 to 10 guys move around to greener pastures if they dont win multiple titles.

Enjoy the time we have watching him here. The windhorsts are just getting started.