Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards revealed why he adjusted his routine at the free-throw line.
Edwards revealed that comments from former Dallas Mavericks governor and current minority owner Mark Cuban regarding the legality of his free throws caused him to make the change.
“After he did what he did this summer, a bunch of dudes was texting me like, bro you gotta change this ’cause they gonna start doing it,” Edwards said, per Chris Hine of The Minnesota Star Tribune. “Coach Crean texted me about it. I was like, I just gotta change my free throws.”
“So now, the refs be like you can’t step over the line, so I had to change,” he added, via Hine.
During a Sept. 11 appearance on the Road Trippin’ podcast, Cuban discussed Edwards’ tendency to step across the charity stripe after shooting a free throw.
“Watch Anthony Edwards when he takes a free throw shot,” Cuban said (h/t SI.com’s Tony Liebert). “Every single time he steps over the line. If you remember back in the day, I used to send in tapes on Shaq … and they started calling it, and he had to fix his free throws.”
Edwards has been an effective foul shooter throughout his six seasons in Minnesota, owning an 80.4 career free-throw percentage.
While the exact moment that he made the adjustment isn’t clear, it doesn’t appear to have affected his accuracy. Edwards has connected on 81.4 percent of his free throws this season after hitting a career-high 83.7 percent of his free throws during his 2024-25 campaign.
The three-time All-Star has remained an efficient three-level scorer to open the 2025-26 season, averaging 28.0 points and 4.8 rebounds to go along with 3.6 assists per game on 47.5/39.2/81.4 shooting splits.