MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Much of this season for the Minnesota Timberwolves has been harder than it needed to be, so it's fitting they might have to play their final game — which they need to win to improve their seed for the playoffs — without star Anthony Edwards.
Edwards was slapped with his NBA -high 18th technical foul of the season for using profanity to complain about a call in Minnesota's 117-91 win over Brooklyn on Friday night, prompting an automatic suspension for the next game against Utah 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 Timberwolves will hope for considering they lost at Utah on Feb. 28 the first time Edwards was suspended.
Edwards 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 the 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 added. "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 Timberwolves (48-33) 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 can also drop as low as eighth, which would require them to win a play-in game to get a spot in the bracket.
Minnesota is 16-4 since the loss to Utah with Edwards sitting out. The Jazz are tied with Washington for the NBA’s worst record at 17-64.
“We’ll try to see if he can appeal it and if not, everyone’s going to have to step up,” said Rudy Gobert, who matched his career high with 35 points against the Nets.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) gestures after making a 3-point basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) looks to shoot as Brooklyn Nets guard Reece Beekman (4) defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards looks on after missing a basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards hangs from the rim after making a basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Wednesday it is suing Maine’s education department for not complying with the government's push to ban transgender athletes in girls sports, escalating a dispute over whether the state is abiding by a federal law that bars discrimination in education based on sex.
The lawsuit follows weeks of feuding between the Republican administration and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that has led to threats to cut off crucial federal funding and a clash at the White House when she told the president: “We’ll see you in court.”
“We are going to continue to fight for women,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a news conference alongside former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who has emerged as a public face of the opposition to transgender athletes.
Trump’s departments of Education and Health and Human Services have said the Maine agency is violating the federal Title IX antidiscrimination law by allowing transgender girls to participate on girls teams.
The lawsuit reflects a stark philosophical turnabout from the position on gender identity issues taken during Democratic administrations.
Under President Joe Biden, the government tried to extend civil rights policies to protect transgender people. In 2016, the Justice Department, then led by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, sued North Carolina over a law that required transgender people to use public restrooms and showers that corresponded the gender on their birth certificate.
Maine officials have refused to agree with a settlement that would have banned transgender students from sports, arguing that the law does not prevent schools from letting transgender athletes participate.
Trump signed an executive order in February, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” that gave federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with his administration’s interpretation of “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.
Trump was joined at the signing of that order by Gaines and other female athletes who were in support of a ban. Gaines tied with a transgender athlete for fifth place in a 2022 NCAA championship and has testified before lawmakers across the country on the issue. She and others frame the issue as women’s rights.
During a February meeting with governors, Trump threatened to pull federal funding from Maine if the state did not comply with his executive order. Mills responded: “We’ll see you in court.”
Maine sued the administration this month after the Department of Agriculture said it was pausing some money for the state’s educational programs because of what the administration contended was Maine’s failure to comply with the Title IX law. A federal judge on Friday ordered the administration to unfreeze funds intended for a Maine child nutrition program.
Sarah Foster, Maine's assistant attorney general, said last week in a letter to the Education Department that nothing in the law “prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls’ and women’s sports teams.”
Questions over the rights of transgender people have become a major political issue in the past five years.
Twenty-six states have laws or policies barring transgender girls from girls school sports. GOP-controlled states have also been banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors and restricting bathroom use in schools and sometimes other public buildings.
In his 2024 race, Trump campaigned against the participation of transgender athletes in sports. As president, he has signed executive orders to do that and to use a rigid definition of the sexes, rather than gender, for federal government purposes. The orders are being challenged in court.
Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
FILE - Democratic Gov. Janet Mills delivers her State of the State address, Jan. 30, 2024, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
