There were new uniforms, but the same energy stands for Minnesota Timberwolves' Julius Randle and Sacramento Kings' Jae Crowder, who signed with his new team the day before Wednesday's matchup. Before Timberwolves All-Star Anthony Edwards went off after his team collapsed in a 115-104 loss to the Kings, Randle and Crowder rehashed their longstanding beef on the floor.
Stemming from Crowder's time with the Phoenix Suns in 2021, Randle's been getting into it with the rugged wing defender for over three years as the two picked up right where they left off on Wednesday. Randle gave Crowder an earful at the free-throw line at one point before Jae got the last laugh in the winding seconds of the Kings' win.
Crowder eagerly clapped in Randle's face, challenging Randle to make one final play as he passed the ball back to Edwards to dribble out the clock. The timeline of confrontations between Randle and Crowder adds up quickly in a video montage posted on social media, per New York Basketball's X, formerly Twitter.
Crowder and the Kings agreed to a deal on November 26. His best years are likely behind him, including averaging 14.2 points and shooting at a 39.8% clip from deep, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.0 steals in 2016-17. However, the 34-year-old wing defender was called upon Sacramento following DeMar DeRozan's back injury, joining forwards Isaiah Crawford and Trey Lyles on the Kings' injured reserved list.
Jae Crowder made two consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, in 2020 with the Miami Heat and in 2021 with the Suns. Julius Randle was traded to the Timberwolves after spending his career with the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks.
Anthony Edwards goes off after Timberwolves' collapse vs. Kings
While NBA Hall of Fame forward Kevin Garnett believes the Timberwolves should have traded Rudy Gobert instead of Karl-Anthony Towns, Edwards is fed up with his team lacking continuity. Edwards let it all out following Wednesday's loss against the Kings, per The Minnesota Star Tribune's Chris Hine.
“Anthony Edwards to the media. ‘Y’all wanna talk to me? (Yes.) What you wanna know, why we’re trash?'” Hine reported on X, formerly Twitter. “Proceeded to say the Wolves, including himself, look like a bunch of ‘front runners' right now.”
Edwards wasn't done. He went on to say that the team is “growing apart” and “can't talk to each other anymore.” He then expanded on his front-runner comment.
“We got up and everybody cheering and f*****g hype,” Edwards said, per Hine. “We get down again and don’t nobody say nothing. That’s the definition of a frontrunner. We as a team, including myself, we all was frontrunners tonight. It was some bull****, for sure.”
The Timberwolves will host the Clippers in an NBA Cup matchup on Friday.
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