Anthony Edwards wants the league to know this year’s Timberwolves are different. Cam Newton wants to see it in May.
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In an October 15 video on his YouTube channel, Edwards put opponents on notice. He promised the Wolves would “foul the s**t out of you” and told fans to buy season tickets. Then, laughing, he ran through the new core’s “three shades”: LaMelo Ball, Jaden McDaniels and himself.
Ball is the reason for the swagger. In June, the Hornets agreed to trade him and Josh Green to Minnesota for Naz Reid, an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, three first-round swaps and three second-rounders. The Wolves then signed Jonathan Kuminga in free agency to start at power forward.
Newton, the 2015 NFL MVP who now hosts the 4th&1 podcast, isn’t buying the October talk, and it isn’t because he doubts Edwards. “This is my favorite player in the NBA,” he said before giving his verdict.
“Boy, making a promise in October means nothing if that promise ain’t got no validity in May or with that type of team, we expecting you to be still playing in June,” said Newton.
“Don’t matter if it’s light-skinned, brown skin, or chocolate. This ain’t Neapolitan here. We ain’t talking about ice cream. Ant-Man has thrusted himself into the position that he has to contend for championships,” he further explained.
“But you also have to understand brother, he doesn’t get the luxury to just say that as if to say the Western Conference, the conference that he’s in, is a slop,” Newton further added.
The former Carolina Panthers QB didn’t hold back from delivering a reality check to the NBA player’s expectations for the upcoming season.
His first point was the conference. Newton called the West the most competitive in the league, and even joked that it’s why LeBron James left for Philadelphia this summer after eight seasons with the Lakers.
Then he listed the obstacles in Minnesota’s way: a Houston team that’s still improving, Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder and Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs.
None of those are easy matchups. Jokic averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 10.7 assists last season. Oklahoma City won the 2025 title. And the Spurs ended Minnesota’s season in May, beating the Wolves in six games in the second round.
However, his bigger concern was the roster. Newton believes Edwards has the makings to become not just a great player but the greatest. The pieces around him are what worry him. Ball and Kuminga are scorers. Meanwhile, Minnesota let go of veterans like Mike Conley, who signed with Boston, and Naz Reid, who went to Charlotte in the Ball trade.
That’s why he called Edwards’ warning “fool’s gold.” It looks good in October, but he isn’t convinced it holds up when it matters.
Ball sits at the center of that question. Newton called him as talented as they come, a player whose gifts were on full display in Charlotte. But Ball never reached the playoffs in six seasons there, and Newton drew a line between talent and knowing how to win, while making clear he wasn’t saying Ball isn’t a winner.
His real test, Newton said, comes when things go wrong. Everyone is undefeated and healthy in October. What happens when the Wolves lose four in a row, or Edwards can’t buy a three? And if Ball does “some outlandish stuff,” is there anyone left in that locker room who can reel him in? “And is he going to listen?” Newton asked.
Edwards and the team have earned some benefit of the doubt, though. The Wolves reached back-to-back Western Conference Finals in 2024 and 2025, knocked out Denver last spring, and have 24 playoff wins over the last three seasons, the third-most in the league. Edwards is a four-time All-Star and the 2026 All-Star Game MVP, and he averaged a career-best 28.8 points last season.
That confidence is a big part of why he’s gotten this far, and Newton has praised it before. His issue isn’t the swagger. It’s whether this version of the Wolves can still be playing in June. With Ball beside him, Edwards will have his answer by May.