Report: Minnesota Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards agree to five-year rookie maximum deal, could reach $260 million

Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards is entering his fourth year in the NBA and his last under his rookies contract, meaning he is eligible for a rookie extension as early as this summer. Now that free agency has opened, the T-Wolves made a long-term deal for Edwards a priority and announced a five-year maximum extension on Monday.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news on Twitter, writing:

“Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards has agreed on a five-year designated rookie maximum deal that could be worth $260 million, his agents Bill Duffy and Joe Branch of WME tell ESPN.”

Edwards made his first all-star game in 2022-23 and set a career high in points per game at 24.6, meanwhile, Minnesota made the play-in game for the second straight season.

This is the second offseason in a row Minnesota has made a huge move during free agency. They just handed Anthony Edwards a deal worth a quarter billion less than one year after they traded for Jazz center Rudy Gobert and his similarly massive contract. Plus, they already had Karl-Anthony Towns on the books for his rookie max extension, which kicked in back in 2019-20.

That’s quite a lot of money invested in three players, perhaps too much. The key part of the puzzle here is that KAT’s deal is set to expire after this coming season and just before Edwards’ extension would kick in next summer. So it would work out quite well financially if the T-Wolves are ready to move on from their longtime big man in order to fully hand the franchise over to the younger Edwards right as he’s getting paid a face-of-the franchise rate.

Is extending Towns on the table? Maybe? But that would require one of three things: a Gobert trade, an Edwards trade, or the Minnesota ownership being willing to swallow their pride and bite a huge tax bill for the next two years in order to contend in the west.

Of those options, a Gobert trade seems most likely. But given how long Towns has been in Minnesota and how unsuccessful the team has been for the large part, perhaps it’s time for the Wolves to move along with Edwards and Gobert as its anchors.