NBA free agency 2023: Anthony Edwards agrees to max extension with Timberwolves
Anthony Edwards, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, has agreed to a maximum rookie-scale contract extension with the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
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. pic.twitter.com/d0UTdqFgD9
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 3, 2023
Edwards will earn $13.5 million in the final year of his rookie deal this coming season. The extension, which begins in the 2024-25 season, is worth an estimated $204 million over five years. Edwards can earn an additional $40 million over the life of the contract if he makes an All-NBA roster in his 2023-24 campaign.
The 21-year-old averaged 24.6 points (46/37/76 shooting splits), 5.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.6 steals in 36 minutes over 79 games this past season, his third in the NBA. The Timberwolves have made back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since 2004, losing in the first round each of the past two years.
Edwards averaged an efficient 31.6 points in a five-game first-round loss to the eventual champion Denver Nuggets in April. He made his first All-Star appearance in February, flashing both All-NBA and All-Defensive talent. A 6-foot-4, 225-pound brick of an athlete, he has missed just seven games to injury in three years.
Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly lauded Edwards in his exit interview for the 2022-23 season, calling him "the best 21-year-old in the world" and "a great, great kid." Connelly indicated both Edwards and third-year forward Jaden McDaniels would see sizable offers in restricted free agency.
"The minute we can talk, we'll be very aggressive," Connelly told reporters after his 42-40 team lost to the Nuggets. "Those guys are fantastic. Both are excited about the long-term future here. The minute we're allowed to talk, those guys are going to have really, really nice offers with a lot of money in their inbox."
Edwards played word of an expected max extension as only he could. "I'm not even — that's cool. The money cool," he told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Chris Hine in May. "But I love the game of basketball. "I don't do it for the money. I do it because I just want to be known who they say, 'He was a great player.'"
And this first max contract is his next reward on that journey.
