Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards raves about Donte DiVincenzo: ‘New York is gonna miss him’

Anthony Edwards has yet to play with Julius Randle since the blockbuster trade that brought Karl-Anthony Towns to New York, but the All-Star guard already is a member of the Minnesota chapter of the Donte DiVincenzo fan club. 

“F–king incredible,” Edwards said after the Timberwolves’ preseason loss to the Knicks in DiVincenzo’s return to the Garden on Sunday. “I mean, I don’t even need the ball, man. You see it, I’m having fun. It’s fun to play with Donte. 

“I haven’t even got to play with Julius yet. So we’ll see what that looks like. But playing with Donte is … I’m not gonna lie, it’s fun as hell.” 

Edwards said he didn’t see DiVincenzo jawing with Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson after the game, but he’s not surprised by his new teammate’s competitiveness. 

“Hell yeah, he’s motivated every night he plays,” Edwards said. “Even when I used to play against him, that motherf–ker was busting through screens, and when he’s going downhill, he’s going downhill. He’s aggressive with everything that he does. 

“So you can’t be mad at him, man. He does everything. He makes all the right plays. F–king shoots the cover off the ball. I mean, I know New York is gonna miss him.” 

The Knicks have averaged 114.3 points per game during their 3-0 start to the preseason entering Tuesday’s home game against the Hornets.

But with several new rotation players, Towns and Mikal Bridges in the starting lineup, they are shooting just 30.6 percent (38-for-124) from 3-point range. 

“Obviously, our defense is probably a little ahead of our offense right now,” Tom Thibodeau said. “So we have to continue to work on that, but I think it’s important to understand, you have to win games in a lot of different ways. 

“If we’re not shooting well, we have to do it with our defense, our rebounding, taking care of the ball, that sort of thing. But obviously there’s a lot of room for improvement for us.” 

Towns (4-for-18) and Bridges (2-for-9) each are shooting .222 from long distance through three games. 

“I think it’s a lot more we can do, but I think we’re just trying to figure it out,” Bridges said. “We just got KAT right before training camp, so just trying to figure it out. It’s going to take some time to figure it out more.”