{"id":736054,"date":"2026-05-16T17:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T17:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/736054\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T17:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T17:06:16","slug":"anthony-edwards-facing-backlash-for-displaying-weak-leadership-vs-spurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/736054\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Edwards Facing Backlash For Displaying ‘Weak’ Leadership vs. Spurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Edwards<\/a> didn’t just have his season end on Friday night, he was accused of showing poor leadership.<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Spurs<\/a> eliminated the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> from the playoffs Friday with a 139-109 victory. Stephon Castle<\/a> led the charge for San Antonio<\/a>, scoring 32 points on 11-of-16 shooting. De’Aaron Fox<\/a> and Victor Wembanyama<\/a> also stepped up, combining for 40 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.<\/p>\n

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With eight minutes to go in Game 6, Edwards walked over to San Antonio’s bench and congratulated their players on advancing to the Western Conference Finals. That move didn’t sit well with Dallas Mavericks<\/a> legend Dirk Nowitzki<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I’ve watched the NBA<\/a> & been a part of it for a long long time. I’ve never seen this,” Nowitzki said during Prime Video’s postgame coverage. “A guy walking into the huddle with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter and dapping up the entire team. It’s too much for me. You can do that after the game. That was a little strange for me.”<\/p>\n

\"MayMay 15, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota<\/a>, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) looks on against the San Antonio Spurs in the first half during game six of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images\u00a9 Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images&period;<\/p>\n

Former Los Angeles Clipper<\/a> star Blake Griffin<\/a> agreed with Nowitzki’s assessment, but he wasn’t as harsh with his words.<\/p>\n

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A few moments later, longtime Miami Heat<\/a> leader Udonis Haslem<\/a> chimed in with his thoughts. He claims Edwards showed weakness with his actions on Friday night.<\/p>\n

“As a leader, I would not have walked down there and shook their hands,” Haslem said. “As a leader of my troops and my guys, I would not have shown that weakness. The game is not over. I\u2019ve got eight minutes left. I still got smoke coming out my ears. \u2026 Let me calm down for those eight minutes since I\u2019m not in, and then after those eight minutes, I\u2019ll go down there, and I\u2019ll congratulate them and their coaching staff.”<\/p>\n

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NBA fans strongly disagree on this topic.<\/p>\n

It’s pretty evident that basketball fans don’t agree with these takes from Griffin, Haslem and Nowitzki.<\/p>\n

“LeBron<\/a> did this to the warriors<\/a> Kyrie did it to the Celtics<\/a> why are we saying it\u2019s weird now,” one fan wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s not showing a weakness if anything it\u2019s showing humility,” a second fan argued.<\/p>\n

“We know Ant is competitive, so I don\u2019t mind it,” another fan said. “He\u2019s just acknowledging they\u2019re getting their whooped. He\u2019s cocky but also can be humble when that\u2019s what reality dictates.”<\/p>\n

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At the end of the day, Edwards only needs to have the respect of his teammates and coaches. If they weren’t bothered by last night’s decision, then neither should we.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by The Spun<\/a> on May 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Edwards didn’t just have his season end on Friday night, he was accused of showing poor leadership.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[375,7,2545,46,149,65885,1105,516,72589,189,307,152,6,969,474,930,4785,693,255,3460],"class_list":["post-736054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-anthony-edwards","tag-basketball","tag-blake-griffin","tag-celtics","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-de39aaron-fox","tag-dirk-nowitzki","tag-lebron","tag-los-angeles-clipper","tag-miami-heat","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-nba","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-stephon-castle","tag-udonis-haslem","tag-victor-wembanyama","tag-warriors","tag-western-conference-finals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116585351325266805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}