Anthony Edwards did not dap up the Spurs because he was happy. .
He did it with eight minutes left because the game was over, his night was over, and the moment that usually comes after a playoff elimination was about to turn into something he wanted no part of: winners laughing, music playing, opponents smiling, cameras waiting for the defeated star to perform grace while still burning inside.
So Edwards got ahead of it.
The Timberwolves’ season-ending loss to San Antonio became a debate because of that gesture. With Minnesota buried and Edwards unlikely to return, he walked toward the Spurs bench and congratulated them before the final horn. Some saw sportsmanship. Others saw surrender. Former players, including Udonis Haslem, Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin, questioned the timing, arguing that a franchise leader should not appear to concede before the game is officially finished.
Edwards’ explanation was pure Ant: blunt, emotional, defiant and oddly thoughtful. He knew the Spurs had earned the series. He knew he was not going back in. He knew that once the buzzer sounded, San Antonio would be celebrating while he was still furious. In his mind, congratulating them early was not weakness. It was control. It was him deciding when to show respect, rather than being dragged into a smiling handshake line after being “whooped.”
“Yeah it’s 8 minutes but we not going back in the game. When you win a playoff series everybody is celebrating at the end of the game. They’ll be smiling while I’m pissed off. I was like ‘let me go ahead and congratulate these boys because I’m not going to be laughing with y’all after you whooped my ass.’ I didn’t want to go dal them n***** up at all. But then what would they have said About me? That’s why I’m me and y’all are whoever y’all are.”
Anthony Edwards explains why he dapped up the Spurs with 8 minutes left:
“Yeah it’s 8 minutes but we not going back in the game. When you win a playoff series everybody is celebrating at the end of the game. They’ll be smiling while I’m pissed off. I was like ‘let me go ahead… pic.twitter.com/Z8uoL1iY0f
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) May 23, 2026
The gesture also impressed Spurs rookie Stephon Castle, who called it cool and noted the respect between the two Georgia natives.
That is what makes Edwards such a fascinating star. He is not polished into cliché. He does not always say the expected thing, and he rarely says it softly. But underneath the profanity and bravado is a player trying to reconcile two codes that often collide in the playoffs: compete until it hurts, and respect the team that beat you.
Maybe the optics were strange. Maybe the old heads were always going to hate it. But Edwards was not celebrating his own defeat. He was acknowledging someone else’s victory before the cameras could turn his anger into a postgame morality play.
It was not clean. It was not traditional. It was not the textbook way to lose. But it was honest. And with Anthony Edwards, honesty has always been the whole point.
