MINNEAPOLIS — If the Minnesota Timberwolves are going to pull themselves out of their January tailspin, Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle must be the ones to lead the way.

The Wolves have lost their defensive identity over the last two games, including Thursday’s 120-115 setback to the wayward Chicago Bulls, which extended Minnesota’s skid to four straight.

“We’ve got to get back to playing defense,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “We have no defensive personality right now.”

Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels are the tone-setters on defense. But the Wolves have shown the potential to be a special team when Edwards and Randle are locked in on that end. Edwards has done that more consistently than Randle, but the burly power forward has had his moments as well.

Coming off Tuesday’s embarrassing loss to the Utah Jazz, the Wolves desperately needed their two biggest stars in the fourth quarter on Thursday night against Chicago, another mediocre team that lulled Minnesota into a false sense of security with a ragged start. By the time the fourth quarter came around, the Bulls were hitting shots and had the Wolves on their heels with their drive-and-kick attack.

This is when Edwards and Randle needed to flex their superior talent and put the Bulls away. Never mind that Randle committed three fouls and turned it over three times in eight minutes, or that Edwards was an uncharacteristic 2-of-8 from the field, including 0-of-5 from 3-point range. The bigger issue for the two of them on Thursday, and in the past two ugly losses, was that both players made glaring defensive mistakes down the stretch.

The first came with the Wolves up 112-109 with 1:40 left. After two shoddy defensive quarters in the second and third, Minnesota had started to string together some stops to regain control of the game. As McDaniels tracked Josh Giddey on a drive to the basket, Randle was caught ball-watching and completely lost track of his man, Patrick Williams. He slipped right past Randle, took the pass and threw down a dunk.

Giddey finds Stix! 👀@thejalen_smith | @CHSN__ pic.twitter.com/lmchrnZRG0

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 23, 2026

McDaniels hit a huge 3-pointer on the other end for a little breathing room with 77 seconds to go. But it took just 11 seconds for the Bulls to get back in the game because Edwards got caught flat-footed on defense, failed to close out on Coby White in the corner and gave up a clean look at a 3 that pulled the Bulls within one again.

“Bones (Hyland) said I was stuck in quicksand when he caught the ball,” Edwards said. “It felt like it. So I couldn’t really get a contest. I know I’m (going to) get cussed out about that one.”

That may not be the only play he hears about. On the game-winning basket from Apple Valley native Tre Jones, Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo appeared to get crossed up on an inbounds pass. Jones took the pass, feigned a dish to White and went right to the basket. Edwards gave a mild contest, but Jones was by him in a blink. Gobert hesitated to leave Nikola Vučević at the top of the key, and DiVincenzo was trailing the play. Jones scored to put the Bulls in front for good.

Tre gives us the lead!@Tre3Jones | @CHSN__ pic.twitter.com/Aq7nCRORBV

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 23, 2026

The Wolves (27-18) have lost four straight for the first time in 14 months. The skid has dropped them from fourth in the Western Conference to seventh, 2 1/2 games ahead of the Golden State Warriors, who come to town for two games on Saturday and Monday. With 37 games left, it is far too early to be peering at the standings and panicking when things are going wrong or celebrating when they’re going right.

But that doesn’t make these last two losses any less disappointing for a team that appeared to be hitting its stride just a week ago. The Wolves led by 12 after three quarters in Utah, only to be outscored 43-26 in the fourth. Two days later, they were up by 14 in the first quarter against Chicago, but gave up 67 points in the second and third quarters to let the Bulls back into the game.

Multiple players talked about these being the dog days, over halfway through the season, but still a few weeks away from the All-Star break. Legs can get heavy, and minds can wander around this time, and the Timberwolves need to refocus.

“We got in this together. We have to get out of it together,” said Randle, who had 30 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five turnovers Thursday. “It’s going to take a lot of effort, a lot of focus, a pickup of intensity.”

Edwards scored 20 points but was just 9-of-25 from the field, including 1-of-8 from 3-point range, numbers that pale in comparison to the efficiency that he has shown all season long. He picked up two early fouls and was in foul trouble for much of the game, something that he said affected his rhythm.

“If I play halfway like myself tonight, we win the game,” Edwards said. “So I don’t really blame nobody but myself.”

Naz Reid had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists, but he continues to be the only thing the Wolves have going off the bench. The struggling Mike Conley had just three points on 1-of-5 shooting in 14 minutes. Hyland wasn’t any better, scoring three points on 1-of-6 shooting in 12 minutes.

“We’re in desperate need of a shot in the arm from that,” Finch said. “I thought the bench had great looks tonight, too.”

It was interesting timing to play the Bulls. The Wolves have been linked to three of their players — White (22 points), Jones (12 points, seven assists) and Ayo Dosunmu (eight points, four rebounds, three assists) — in the trade rumor mill as they search for more firepower with the second unit.

Minnesota president of basketball operations Tim Connelly is combing the league, looking for ways to upgrade a roster that he believes can be a contender in the West. Joan Beringer has recently joined the rotation, filling the need for a backup center behind Gobert. That leaves point guard and bench scorer as the two biggest priorities. Taking a big swing at a player like Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant is highly unlikely, given his salary and the depth the Wolves would have to sacrifice to make such a deal happen.

That would seem to leave a scorer/ballhandler off the bench to be the more reasonable deal to make before the Feb. 5 trade deadline. Adding someone in that capacity would give them insurance for when Hyland is in a shooting funk, as he is now, and reduce some of the pressure on the 38-year-old Conley to reprise a role that, to this point, seems unattainable.

“It’s been a challenge, to say the least, trying to navigate trying to be myself, trying to work my way into the game,” Conley said. “But understand, I’m not going to get as many minutes, so you can’t wait for the opportunities. You got to strike when you can.”

Getting Conley closer to the impact player he was when he was first acquired in a trade about three years ago will only take this team so far. The Wolves have to get back to the lockdown defense they have shown sporadically this season. They committed 27 fouls against Chicago, putting the Bulls on the free-throw line for 33 attempts, more than twice as many as Minnesota’s 15 attempts.

Nearly every one of those foul calls was merited. The Wolves are stuck in mud right now. They have been a step behind in the last two games, which has unnecessarily prolonged their misery.

“It’s a long season,” Randle said. “There’s going to be ups and downs. A week ago, we could’ve looked like the best team in basketball, and this week we can look like the worst. We just gotta find a way to find a consistency. Whatever we gotta do to recover, get our mind right, our energy right, our focus right, we gotta do it.”