Chandler Parsons criticizes Karl-Anthony Towns for comments on Anthony Edwards

As the NBA season opens, the Minnesota Timberwolves have become one of the most interesting teams to watch after an offseason blockbuster move brought Rudy Gobert into the frontcourt beside Karl-Anthony Towns. In addition, the marketable Anthony Edwards continues making steps forward in his development as an elite wing player.

Now in their third season together, Karl-Anthony Towns appeared to call out Anthony Edwards for his off-court habits – which he regularly jokes about with the media – during a postgame press conference.

“I know y’all think it’s funny up here when he talks about Popeyes and all that s***,” said Towns after Monday’s 115-106 loss against the San Antonio Spurs. “That doesn’t make me happy to hear.”

Many have called out Towns for such a public attack on Edwards, rather than addressing the issue internally with a private conversation. Former NBA forward Chandler Parsons joined that crowd with harsh criticism during his appearance on FanDuel TV.

“It’s just super corny for him to say that,” Parsons said. “I don’t know if it’s his attempt of trying to be a leader, but leaders don’t do that in public. Leaders privately pull their player or their teammate over there and they talk about that or they get with the training staff, they get with the chef, they get with whatever they have to get to address this issue.

“You do not air that out after a bad loss when emotions are already high. Doing that to another star player on the team, I just think that’s completely out of bounds. That’s not how you lead. That’s not how you get things done and I just think that’s super wack.”

More on Karl-Anthony Towns comments

As Chandler Parsons points out in his criticism of Karl-Anthony Towns, he likely had good intentions but chose the wrong way to address the situation. The former Kentucky center has been asked to take on a bigger role off the floor in recent years while going through a multitude of personal tragedies.

When he first entered the league and joined a young Timberwolves team looking for leadership, the front office brought in Jimmy Butler to make an impact. The experiment failed and he was later traded away following multiple public clashes with young stars including Towns and Andrew Wiggins, who is now an NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors.

The drama of the 2022 season has started early, but leaves the team plenty of time to sort things out and move forward in a year which has potential to be special.