Tag: Anthony Edwards

OKC Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves to face off 3 times in 4-game stretch

OKC Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves to face off 3 times in 4-game stretch.

The Oklahoma City Thunder revealed their 2024-25 regular season schedule. This means that it’s time to examine how the slate is laid out during the 82-game grind.

After a first-seed finish last season, the Thunder hope to repeat that accomplishment this upcoming campaign. They enter the year as title favorites after a productive offseason.

One important stretch during the Thunder’s season will happen in February 2025. They will play the Minnesota Timberwolves three out of four games from Feb. 13-24.

All three contests will be on national television. The Thunder travel to Minnesota to face the Timberwolves via TNT on Feb. 13. It is OKC’s final contest before the 2025 All-Star break.

After the break, the Thunder will travel to face the Utah Jazz on Feb. 21. It’s a nice one-game break before they battle the Timberwolves in a road-and-home back-to-back from Feb. 23-24.

The first contest will be on ESPN with an 8:30 p.m. CT tip. A back-to-back that features travel is already grueling as is. Toss in the layer that includes the late tip on the first night and standard tip on the second night — 7 p.m. CT — then it complicates important games.

The Thunder and Timberwolves were two of the best teams in the Western Conference last year. Their seeding wasn’t finalized until the last day of the regular season. Expect a similar finish this upcoming season between the squads.

Tiebreakers could prove vital once more. That’s why this three-in-four-games stretch will be crucial for seeding aspirations for both the Thunder and Timberwolves.

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Projecting the U.S. men’s basketball roster for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles

Anthony Edwards called next.

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Bryan Kalbrosky.

The 2024 Paris Olympics are in the rearview mirror and to no surprise, the United States once again earned a gold medal in basketball.

Led by a trio of NBA veterans, the U.S. men’s basketball roster was thrilling. Basketball fans were delighted to see LeBron James play with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant at the same time and the results were incredible.

Now that the Olympics will leave France and the United States will become the next host nation, the focus will shift to what the roster could look like in 2028.

It is an impossible question to answer because so much of this depends on health, interest, coaching, development, and various other circumstances we can’t predict.

But based on what we know so far, factoring in age and relationships with the USA Basketball, here is our best guess as of right now:

GUARDS

Anthony Edwards

Devin Booker

Tyrese Haliburton

Donovan Mitchell

Tyrese Maxey

FORWARDS

Jayson Tatum

Paolo Banchero

Scottie Barnes

Cooper Flagg

BIGS

Bam Adebayo

Chet Holmgren

Evan Mobley

Noah Lyles denies beef with Anthony Edwards

Photos by MARTIN BERNETTI Damien MEYER / AFP

U.S. track and field sprinter Noah Lyles caused some more controversy this weekend:

“Two of the biggest stars from the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics were Noah Lyles and Anthony Edwards.

Lyles and Edwards both became first-time Olympic gold medalists this summer. Before testing positive for COVID-19 and withdrawing from the Olympics this year, Lyles won a gold medal in the 100 meter for track and field. Edwards was a standout performer on the U.S. men’s basketball roster.

Both gold medalists have signed endorsement deals with the shoe company adidas. Recent reporting suggests that there is potentially animosity between the two, but Lyles is attempting to squash those growing rumors.”

You can read more here.

Shootaround

— 5 things we learned about the NBA (Victor Wembanyama’s rise is truly inevitable) at the Paris Olympics

— Tyrese Haliburton had the most perfect post after winning a gold medal despite limited playing time

— Hoops fans thought A’ja Wilson and Bam Adebayo’s polite handshake was so unsubtle amid dating rumors

— An earthquake interrupted ESPN’s NBA Today show but Malika Andrews handled it like a pro

NBA schedule exposes league’s favoritism of Anthony Edwards over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

NBA schedule exposes league’s favoritism of Anthony Edwards over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Here’s why that’s a mistake:

As the NBA’s 2023-24 regular season schedule slowly leaks, there’s been one common takeaway — the Oklahoma City Thunder have been snubbed harder than any other team in the league.

After a first-seed finish last season, it’d be easy to think the Thunder would be a frequent visitor on primetime slots. They have the star appeal and will be a title contender for the foreseeable future. Why wouldn’t the league boost their visibility?

Instead, OKC won’t be featured in either Opening Night or Christmas — the two most popular days of the league’s grueling seven-month campaign.

This feels like a shortsighted mistake.

Whether the league likes it or not, the Thunder will be a staple in the playoff picture for the rest of the decade. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams all are 26 years or younger. OKC was the youngest top-seed in league history last year.

Barring the unforeseen, the Thunder will be a constant 50-plus win squad for the next five-plus years. The same can’t be said about one specific team slotted to play on both nights — the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Looking at the schedules for both Opening Night and Christmas, the NBA has made a conscious decision to market Anthony Edwards over Gilgeous-Alexander. The Timberwolves will play on both nights while the Thunder on none.

Like Nickelodeon picking Victoria Justice over Ariana Grande, the NBA has hitched its wagon to the wrong horse.

Both teams had similar seasons last year. The Thunder captured the first seed and made it to the second round while the Timberwolves made it to the Western Conference Finals but lost in five games.

Both franchises are also in small markets. Unlike other teams, OKC and Minnesota won’t be gifted the national spotlight unless deemed worthy.

This means the tiebreaker likely came down to who the league thinks is more marketable between Edwards and Gilgeous-Alexander. This wouldn’t be the first time both players have been pitted against each other. They’re on similar trajectories, so comparisons have only naturally followed suit.

As of now, Gilgeous-Alexander is the clearcut better player. He’s had back-to-back top-five MVP finishes and headlines the Thunder. Meanwhile, Edwards has had a solid start to his career. The 23-year-old has made two straight All-Star appearances and was part of Team USA’s gold finish this summer.

But Minnesota’s success last season wasn’t mainly because of Edwards’ rise — unlike OKC’s with Gilgeous-Alexander. Sure, he was its top scorer but the Timberwolves rode an elite defense manned by Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert to their best season in two decades.

With that said though, pure production isn’t the sole factor involved in these decisions. Off-court personality and charisma also matter. As badly as Gilgeous-Alexander beats Edwards on the court, the latter equally dominates the former off it.

There’s no question Edwards does a better job in a press conference setting. He is unapologetically himself and offers blunt truths covered in witty one-liners.

Meanwhile, Gilgeous-Alexander’s calm demeanor on the court reflects his personality. He is Mr. Calm, cool and collected. Always precise with his words. Never in a hurry.

Rarely does a quote from Gilgeous-Alexander make the airwaves on ESPN or take over Twitter. For Edwards, that’s a normal Tuesday.

Even though Edwards might be the sexier choice, Gilgeous-Alexander is the safer choice that should also be propelled up. The 26-year-old should be featured on at least one of the league’s two busy nights.

To be ignored for both exposes the league’s shortcomings. There should be a healthy balance but the NBA has put all its eggs in one basket with Edwards. If the NBA insists on living by that mindset and refuses to adapt, Gilgeous-Alexander is the better choice.

He’s one of the best players in the league and has had historically efficient 30-plus point seasons these last two years. Maybe Edwards reaches those heights in the future, but that shouldn’t factor into who plays on Opening Night or Christmas during these next few months.

The 2024-25 NBA schedule should be about showcasing the best players in the league right now. That’s Gilgeous-Alexander in this scenario. Edwards has the tools to reach that status but hasn’t yet. The league prioritizing the young, rising star over an MVP candidate in the middle of his prime is a colossal mistake that was avoidable.

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Noah Lyles denied a rumor that he disrespected Anthony Edwards’ adidas signature shoe release

Noah Lyles is walking back comments he reportedly made about NBA star Anthony Edwards.

Two of the biggest stars from the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics were Noah Lyles and Anthony Edwards.

Lyles and Edwards both became first-time Olympic gold medalists this summer. Before testing positive for COVID-19 and withdrawing from the Olympics this year, Lyles won a gold medal in the 100 meter for track and field. Edwards was a standout performer on the U.S. men’s basketball roster.

Both gold medalists have signed endorsement deals with the shoe company adidas. Recent reporting suggests that there is potentially animosity between the two, but Lyles is attempting to squash those growing rumors.

Included in a recent feature about Lyles is an anecdote about why the sprinter did not attend a shoe-release event for Edwards. Here is more (via TIME):

When Lyles was negotiating an Adidas contract extension last year, the company, he says, threw him what it thought was a bone. Adidas invited him to the shoe-release event for Anthony Edwards, the rising Minnesota Timberwolves star who’s got plenty of talent but, unlike Lyles, isn’t a six-time world champ. “You want to do what?” says Lyles. “You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe? No disrespect: the man is an amazing athlete. He is having a heck of a year. I love that they saw the insight to give him a shoe, because they saw that he was going to be big. All I’m asking is, ‘How could you not see that for me?’”

Lyles, who wondered last year whether or not NBA Finals winners should call themselves world champions, has raised some eyebrows from basketball players and fans.

His reported comments about Edwards’ signature shoe would add further fuel to that fire, especially because the Timberwolves guard is one of the faces of the brand.

But he is creating some distance between himself and the comments that he allegedly made to TIME. He is now suggesting that he could not attend the event based on scheduling conflicts.

He added that Edwards is an “amazing player” and congratulated the former No. 1 overall pick on also becoming a champion at the Olympics.

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Watch Anthony Edwards throws down windmill dunk

Former UGA basketball star Anthony Edwards throws down a ridiculous windmill dunk in Team USA’s win

Former Georgia Bulldogs basketball star Anthony Edwards is putting on a show for Team USA at the Olympic Games in Paris, France. Edwards scored a team-high 26 points of 11 of 15 shooting in the United States’ dominany 104-83 win over Puerto Rico.

Team USA has secured the No. 1 seed in the Olympic basketball tournament ahead of knockout play. The top highlight of the United States’ win had to be Anthony Edwards’ steal and windmill dunk in the fourth quarter.

Here’s a look at Edwards’ highlight.

Edwards’ windmill as about as good of an in-game dunk as you will ever see in basketball.

16-year-old Olympian Quincy Wilson posts pictures with LeBron, Steph, other stars

Quincy Wilson, a 16-year-old Team USA track athlete, posted pictures from Paris with NBA players he has spent his life watching.

Quincy Wilson, the 16-year-old track star who took the country by storm and made the Olympics this year, is meeting some of the professional athletes he has spent his life watching.

Wilson, born Jan. 8, 2008, posted pictures to X from the Opening Ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics with men’s basketball players LeBron James, Steph Curry and Anthony Edwards. On Instagram, he shared more with Anthony Davis and tennis star Coco Gauff.

For context of how those NBA players have shaped Wilson’s NBA viewing experience: James has been in the league for longer than Wilson has been alive. LeBron debuted with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003, more than four years before the birth of Wilson.

Curry played his first game for the Golden State Warriors in 2009, when Wilson was just under two years old. Davis debuted for the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012, when Wilson was four.

And Edwards, while still an up-and-coming superstar in the NBA, debuted in 2020 — when Wilson was 12.

By comparison, Wilson is the youngest male athlete on Team USA.

To qualify for the Games, Wilson broke the U18 400-meter record twice with times of 44.84 and 44.59 in the preliminary round and semifinals, respectively. He finished sixth in the final round, failing to qualify for the individual race but enough to keep his name in the running for the 4×400 relay pool.

Now in Paris, Wilson is getting his first taste of the Games. Perhaps LeBron and Davis, who won gold with Team USA in 2008 (James) and 2012 (both), can give him some tips to ensure it isn’t his last.

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The Anthony Edwards-Michael Jordan comparisons live on through this vicious sneaker commercial from Adidas

“[Expletive] buddy.” WHAT.

Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves might have been knocked out of the playoffs by the Mavericks in the most embarrassing way possible, but let me tell you something — I don’t care about any of that today.

Why? Because Edwards made me completely forget about it with his latest “Face of the League” ad with Adidas for his signature AE 1 shoe.

The campaign for these shoes has generally just been great. Edwards has been roasting rival brands and their athletes from the beginning while flaunting the AE 1, which is undoubtedly the best signature shoe in the NBA right now.

But, yo. This latest commercial? I don’t know how to describe it other than visceral.

In it, Edwards has a “receipts” machine that basically brings up old tweets and quotes from people. He goes at Carmelo Anthony hard in this one. He says “[expletive] buddy” after hearing a criticism from Cam’ron. He laughs at the rest of his haters.

It’s so incredibly petty and so incredibly perfect. I love it so much.

I know it’s en vogue to compare Anthony Edwards to Michael Jordan. Sure, you can see some similarities in their games.

But tell me y’all can’t see this being a Jordan sneaker commercial back in the day? I definitely get MJ vibes from this. It’s easily one of the best sneaker commercials I’ve seen in years.

It’s so perfect because it’s so Ant. This is legitimately how he seems to be. It doesn’t change when he’s on the court or when he’s in a press conference or when he’s doing a commercial. He’s always giving us his thoughts, unfiltered and uncensored. It’s great.

Keep it coming, Ant Man. More AE 1 madness, please.

PHOTOS: Anthony Edwards sneakers this season

Even though he came up short of his first NBA Finals, Anthony Edwards took a big step forward to let people know that he is one of the faces of the league. Ant signed with adidas back in 2020, and in September of 2023, adidas elevated Edwards as a signature athlete, where he would get the opportunity to release his first own signature shoe, the AE1.

Check out the shoes Edwards sported this season below.

Social media reacts to Mavs winning Game 5 vs. Timberwolves: ‘Luka Doncic had Snoop Dogg flabbergasted’

The Dallas Mavericks reached the NBA Finals for the third time in franchise history after beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-103 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Luka Doncic was unstoppable with 36 points, 10 rebounds and five assists …

The Dallas Mavericks reached the NBA Finals for the third time in franchise history after beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-103 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.

Luka Doncic was unstoppable with 36 points, 10 rebounds and five assists while Kyrie Irving added 36 points. Those two outscored Minnesota in the first half 44 to 40.

Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 56 points but it wasn’t enough to force Game 6.

Here’s how social media reacted to the Mavs winning Game 5.