Anthony Edwards’ tech rescinded; available for Wolves’ finale
The Minnesota Timberwolves will have star Anthony Edwards for their final game of the regular season after all.
The NBA on Saturday rescinded the technical foul Edwards was issued at 6:29 of the second quarter in Minnesota’s 117-91 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. The technical was his NBA-high 18th of the season and would have resulted in an automatic suspension for the Wolves’ last game against the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
NBA rules dictate a one-game suspension for any player who reaches 16 technical fouls during the regular season. Each two additional technicals trigger another suspension.
The league has the right to review and rescind a technical foul, which the Wolves were hoping for considering they lost at Utah on Feb. 28, the first time Edwards was suspended.
The Wolves (48-33) need a win in the finale to improve their playoff seeding. They can still finish as high as fourth in the crowd of Western Conference contenders, which would come with home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs. They also can drop as low as eighth, which would require them to win a play-in game to get a spot in the bracket.
Edwards received the technical Friday for using profanity to complain about a call. He was whistled for a personal foul while closely guarding Brooklyn’s Keon Johnson on the wing midway through the second quarter. After spreading his arms out in disbelief with a furrowed glance at official Ray Acosta, Edwards quickly got the technical, too.
Crew chief Bill Kennedy told a pool reporter after the game that the technical was assessed for profanity used toward Acosta, which Edwards confirmed.
“I tried to play good defense. They called a foul,” Edwards said, adding he then asked what the foul was while using profanity. “And he gave me a tech. I hope they look at it and rescind it, so I can play in a couple days.”
Edwards, separately from the technicals, has been fined six times for a total of $320,000 for various behaviors.
“I’m praying they rescind it,” he said. “I don’t feel like it should’ve been a tech, but me and Ray got a good relationship. We talked it out after the fact. But I don’t think I deserved a tech for just that little gesture.”
The Timberwolves agreed.
“I did not really get a good or clear explanation of why the technical occurred. It didn’t seem like there was anything egregious or overly demonstrative,” coach Chris Finch said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: espn.com