Craig Carton is already talking up Anthony Edwards leaving Minnesota

Resident pot stirrer Craig Carton is at it again.

Following Anthony Edwards’ 43-point eruption in a Game 1 win over the Denver Nuggets, the FS1 host cast doubt on his long-term future with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Carton suggested that Minnesota fans relish Edwards’ brilliance now, spreading fear that the allure of big-market teams like New York or Los Angeles might lure him away.

“I feel bad for you people in Minnesota; you seem like nice people,” Carton said Monday. “You seem like nice, good people. I see the future. You’re gonna lose (Anthony Edwards). You know you’re gonna lose him. You’re gonna lose him like every Minnesota-type town loses its stars. At some point, he’s gonna wake up and go — unless he wins a title, of course, which is absolutely on the table right now — but at some point, there’s gonna be an agent. And the agent’s gonna whisper in his ear, ‘New York, New York, New York. LA, LA, LA.’ And that’s what’s gonna happen.

“For you die-hard basketball fans, you better enjoy it now. You better put your arms around and embrace it, and give it a big, fat tongue kiss because he ain’t gonna be there forever. You tell me a great player that didn’t leave Minnesota… Just tell me the last great player that didn’t leave Minnesota. The answer is that they all do.”

Carton has a point about Rod Carew, Johan Santana, Randy Moss, Kevin Garnett, Kevin Love, Stephon Marbury, Adrian Peterson, and Fran Tarkenton. But Joe Mauer, Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, and Harmon Killebrew, who played 20 seasons in Minnesota before spending his final year with the Kanas City Royals, would also like to have a word.

Sure, Carton isn’t talking about the Twins, and there’s less player empowerment in terms of forcing your way to a bigger market in baseball, but when you mention Minnesota and type towns like it, that answer is all-encompassing. At the same time, we have to remember that the Timberwolves are a relatively young franchise that was an expansion team alongside the Orlando Magic in 1989.

There’s not exactly a track record for stars sticking around in the Twin Cities when we relate it to the NBA. Garnett, of course, forced a trade out out of Minnesota after missing the playoffs in three straight seasons but the prodigal son eventually returned to the Land of 10,000 Lakes at the twilight of his career. And in relative terms, Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns are arguably two of the better players in franchise history, and neither has shown signs of wanting to leave.

That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it’s just another example of Carton coming from a big market like New York and trying to take swipes at smaller market teams for not being able to retain their star talent. That might be a problem that Minnesota has to solve down the road, but it’s a ridiculous takeaway to have Edwards led the T-Wolves to five straight playoff wins — including the most recent one over the defending champs.

Perhaps Edwards will one day want to return home to Georgia. But that shouldn’t matter or even be a talking point, as the 22-year-old has drawn comparisons to Michael Jordan and continues to prove that he might be one of the best players on the planet right now. If anything, Carton could benefit from using some of his own advice and wrapping his arms around the Timberwolves and enjoying it while it lasts instead of using a hypothetical talking point — and an irrelevant one at that — that might not even come true.

[The Carton Show on X]