PHONEIX — Last year, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards said he couldn’t be considered a star until he won in the playoffs.

So, surely after Edwards lifted Minnesota to a series sweep over the Kevin Durant and Devin Booker-led Suns in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, even the 22-year-old is comfortable viewing himself in that light.

“Nah, not yet, man,” Edwards said. “Not yet.”

The Timberwolves completed their series sweep of the Suns with a 122-116 victory Sunday at Footprint Arena, but there’s still more work to be done.

Mike Conley spoke to the team ahead of this year’s playoffs about having a sense of urgency, about how teams like this year’s Timberwolves squad don’t come around often. Conley himself hasn’t been in a conference final for more than a decade. Basically, the 36-year-old asked his teammates to help make a deep run for him.

He wants to compete for a championship.

That feels lofty for this organization. After all, the win over the Suns was Minnesota’s first series victory in 20 years. There were countless references to winning a series being “a step.”

“And I understand it’s just one series win and you don’t want to overblow it, but it’s the next step,” Wolves assistant coach Micah Nori said, “and it’s the next step in the progression for all of our guys.”

But there’s no law against taking multiple steps within the same postseason. That seems to be where the Wolves’ collective heads are at the moment.

Wolves wing Jaden McDaniels briefly discussed his enjoyment of the challenge of defending the likes of Booker, Durant and Brad Beal.

“I mean, we held them to whatever they were, bad shooting nights,” McDaniels said. “So, just keep doing that.”

McDaniels paused, hitting the realization the series was no more.

“Well,” he said, “(it’s) over now.”

The win matters. It matters for national respect. It matters for an even higher level of internal belief that not only is this a good team, it’s one that can achieve in the postseason. Karl-Anthony Towns noted how much it matters that he finally notched a series victory under his belt.

But it still only matters to a certain degree.

“It’s just the first round, though,” McDaniels said. “We don’t want to get too high, too low. We’ve still got another team to play.”

Onto the next one, which will be against either the Denver Nuggets or Los Angeles Lakers starting Saturday or next Monday.

“Obviously, for this franchise, for these fans, for this organization, it feels good,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert said. “It’s a credit to the work that this front office, coaching staff and all of us players have been putting in since I got here (before the 2022-23 season) until now. It’s great.

“But at the same time, we’re trying to get that championship, and this is one step of the way. It’s not gonna get easier. So, we’ve just gotta stay focused, keep putting in the work every day and keep taking care of ourselves and we’ll be alright.”

As Conley — the only player on the roster who’s advanced past the next round and has played in a conference final — knows, the games only get bigger from here.

“We can celebrate (Sunday), but we’ve got to be ready to go when we play next round, because the lights get bigger, moments get bigger and teams get smarter and teams start figuring out what other teams did against you, trying to figure out ways to attack you,” the veteran guard said. “It’s going to be a lot of film on you. You have to be able to manipulate that and still try to find a way to win. It’s going to take a lot, and a lot physically from us.”

And they intend to bring all of that. That was evident when looking at the whiteboard located in the visitor’s locker room in Phoenix after Minnesota’s victory.

Two things were featured in red marker: A broom, signaling Minnesota’s sweep, and a big, circled 12, the amount of remaining victories standing between the Timberwolves and the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

So it is written.

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