How realistic are the Michael Jordan-Anthony Edwards comparisons?
The last time the Chicago Bulls won a championship, Michael Jordan was leading the charge. He’s widely regarded as the best player in NBA history, but there’s one guy in the league getting a ton of comparisons to him right now: Anthony Edwards. Elias Schuster of Bleacher Nation weighed in on those likening Edwards to Jordan.
“The Anthony Edwards-Michael Jordan comparisons are growing louder,” Schuster wrote. “I think we can all agree that attaching anyone to the GOAT feels extremely hyperbolic, but I also can’t sit here and say I don’t understand the similarities. Edwards is starting to build a reputation that centers around his obsessive competitiveness and high-flying antics. His ability to get downhill and control his body around the rim is also reminiscent of what we saw from Jordan.
“I still lean toward a Dwyane Wade comp for Edwards, particularly when we consider his athletic build and viciousness (something about Jordan’s game felt more fluid and graceful). But, again, I get it.”
As Edwards continues to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves on their quest for a championship, it seems inevitable that he will draw more and more comparisons to Jordan the more he wins.
KD loves basketball and Ant is his favorite player.
After the Suns were swept by the Timberwolves in the first round of the postseason, Kevin Durant had a classy message for Anthony Edwards.
Durant, a two-time NBA Finals MVP and 14-time NBA All-Star, took the loss in stride. He was simply outshined by Edwards, who became the only player other than Kobe Bryant to ever record at least 40 points to finish a sweep on the road before turning 23 years old.
There simply wasn’t an answer for Edwards on either end of the floor and it didn’t take much for Durant to acknowledge that. Fortunately, he was able to share a very special moment with Edwards on the court after his elimination:
Kevin Durant congratulates Anthony Edwards after the end of the Timberwolves-Suns series 🤝
The two will be teammates for Team USA during the Olympics in Paris this summer.pic.twitter.com/5oxeAiQNQN
Edwards finished the series averaging 31.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. He also shot 43.8 percent on 3-pointers against the Suns while recording some jaw-dropping highlights.
Durant saw all of this and during his postgame press conference, the praise for Edwards only continued.
"So impressed with Ant. My favorite player to watch… just his love for the game shines bright… love everything about Ant."
“So impressed by Ant. My favorite player to watch. Just grown so much since he came into the league. At 22, his love for the game just shines bright and that’s one of the reasons why I like him the most. He loves basketball. He is grateful to be in this position and he’s taking advantage of every opportunity he’s gotten. I love everything about Ant.”
Durant and Edwards will team up for USA men’s basketball, likely playing together in the starting lineup, this summer for the 2024 Olympics.
There are explanations, and then there are explanations by Anthony Edwards.
The Minnesota Timberwolves emphatically embarrassed the Phoenix Suns by sweeping them in the NBA playoffs. On Sunday, they secured a series win, boosted by Karl-Anthony Towns‘ sensational 28-point and 10-rebound outing. How did KAT have one of the best games of his career? You need to hear Anthony Edwards’ absolutely funny NSFW explanation to understand just how tremendous it was.
The Suns are probably not going to want to turn on the film for their abysmal playoff series anytime soon. Anthony Edwards was unraveling them any chance he got, dropping 30-plus points in three out of four games, including Sunday’s monster 40-point performance. But it wasn’t just Edwards. It was KAT, too.
When the Timberwolves went cold during a potential series-clinching game, it was Towns who dropped some timely buckets to give Minnesota its first playoff series win since 2004. Anthony says there’s a simple reason for that. KAT didn’t foul. No, really.
Here’s what he told the media about KAT’s special night (Warning: NSFW language.):
“Tonight, he wasn’t in foul trouble. The first three games, the [expletive] just kept fouling….”
“He’s the best offensive player on the team. If he’s not in foul trouble, it’s a problem for any team that has to guard us because he can stretch the floor. He can post. He can pass. He can do everything….Just stop [expletive] fouling.”
Great answer here from Anthony Edwards on KAT’s importance, and for him to “stop f**king fouling.” pic.twitter.com/B079yJ0Eo4
Ant with the highest level of praise for KAT but also "The first three games the motherf***er just kept fouling … just stop f***ing fouling" 🤣 pic.twitter.com/1C8zxuncaa
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) April 29, 2024
“They got KD, but we got Jaden McDaniels.” — Anthony Edwards, in 2023. He was right.
It was 2023 when Anthony Edwards may not have known that he was predicting the future.
In an interview during All-Star week last year, the Minnesota Timberwolves star remarked, “They got KD, but we got Jaden McDaniels.”
KD would of course be Kevin Durant, and before you think that’s just Ant hyping up his T-Wolves teammate, maybe Edwards knew that in Game 2 of the Wolves’ playoff series against the Phoenix Suns, McDaniels would explode for 25 points, outplaying Durant (6-of-15 for 18 points).
The clip went viral on Tuesday night, and fans talked about a ton it during the win on X (formerly Twitter):
Out of context, this looks pretty bad: Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards blocked a Bradley Beal shot in Game 2 of the playoff series against the Phoenix Suns … and a referee — Zach Zarba — daps him up.
But there’s context, as far as I can tell, and it explains the whole thing. After Ant’s block on Beal, Zarba might have just been trying to show where the inbounds was coming from (Refs don’t give high fives, ask Tom Brady).
The video is still a little perplexing, with the referee not really reacting to the exchange, but it makes more sense now and isn’t a sign that the refs are in cahoots with the T-Wolves:
Anthony Edwards wasn’t afraid to talk a little trash to Kevin Durant during Suns – Timberwolves.
During Saturday’s first 2024 NBA playoff game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns, Wolves guard Anthony Edwards wasn’t afraid to talk a little trash to Suns forward Kevin Durant.
With Edwards one of the game’s rising stars and Durant one of its established greats, the former didn’t miss the chance to share what was on his mind to the latter after making a 3-pointer right in front of the future Hall of Famer.
Durant had a big smile on his face as Edwards taunted him, as the spirit of competition just makes these big-stage playoff games all the more fun for the players and the fans.
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) April 20, 2024
Edwards and the Timberwolves are major contenders in the Western Conference this spring, and moments like this will only add to the team’s momentum in this opening series and in the playoffs as a whole.
If you’re Durant, all you can do sometimes is get a kick out of the new generation trying to stick it to you on the court.
The Timberwolves superstar guard mentioned Steph Curry as one of the players he’s excited to play with in the Olympics with Team USA.
With the Golden State Warriors’ season over after a loss in the play-in tournament, Steph Curry will have a head start on preparing for his debut in the Olympic Games. The Warriors All-Star point guard was one of 12 players to be named to Team USA’s roster for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.
Team USA’s roster will be headlined by LeBron James, Kevin Durant and multiple other All-Star caliber players from around the association. One member of Team USA recently mentioned Curry as a player he’s excited to suit up alongside in the Olympics.
Minnesota Timberwolves superstar wing Anthony Edwards referenced Curry, along with Durant and James, as players he’s excited to play with on Team USA.
Via Complex Sports:
It will be super fun, man. I will get to play alongside my favorite player of all time which is Kevin Durant. Also, I get to play alongside LeBron [James], Steph Curry, all the goats, man. It should be fun.
HoopsHype presents the most likely players to make their All-NBA debuts in the 2023-24 season, led by Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson.
Right now, there are 26 active NBA players who have been All-Stars in their careers but who have yet to make an All-NBA Team, which is arguably the league’s highest individual honor besides winning Most Valuable Player or Finals MVP.
That list features some huge names, including Zion Williamson, Anthony Edwards, Bam Adebayo, Brandon Ingram and Jalen Brunson.
Several of those players stand a good chance of making their All-NBA debuts in the 2023-24 season. Today, let’s explore the most likely candidates to achieve this milestone.
Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for rocking with The Morning Win today. We appreciate you here.
I don’t even want to waste time with small talk. I know you saw that Anthony Edwards dunk on John Collins last night. And, if you didn’t, what in the world are you doing?!?
I’ve seen so many people calling this the Dunk of the Year. And, yeah, that’s appropriate, I guess. There hasn’t been — and will not be — a better dunk than this this season.
But calling this the Dunk of the Year undersells this, man. It feels disrespectful to me. It’s much, much bigger than that. This might be the best dunk I’ve ever seen. It’s definitely the best one I’ve seen in at least a decade, at the very least.
Yeah, we’ve seen other immaculate poster dunks from other dunkers recently. Ja Morant has quite a few. Zion Williamson’s got some here and there. Ant Man’s got some others out there, too.
But this one here from Ant? This is generational, man. We’re going to remember this one for a long, long time. This is the one that’s going to have kids dunking their friends into trash cans and calling out “ANT MAN” as they do it.
This is one of the best dunks I’ve ever seen. Shoutout to Edwards for giving us this treat. My condolences to John Collins for involuntarily being on the wrong side of history.
Palace intrigue in the MLBPA
Mandatory Credit: Greg Lovett-USA TODAY NETWORK
There might be some big changes coming to the Major League Baseball Players Association soon.
Players held a zoom call on Monday that ended with an informal vote to oust MLBPA deputy executive director Bruce Meyer with MLBPA — the No. 2 guy in the player’s association, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports.
Players have long had complaints about the current union leadership and their ability to get things done. There’s also a belief that super agent Scott Boras has a strong influence on the union through Meyer — a claim he denied back in 2021.
This friction is coming at such a fascinating time when teams spent nearly $3 billion this offseason on player contracts. On the surface, that looks great! Especially following the newly minted CBA.
But when you really dig into it, Shohei Ohtani ($700 million) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($325 million) are making over a third of that money with one team. Meanwhile, Passan writes, most teams are still spending less:
“Two historic financial behemoths, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, committed less than $50 million to free agents. Eight teams — the Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins, Cleveland Guardians and Colorado Rockies — guaranteed less than $15 million.”
The top of the league is doing great. The middle? Not so much. That’s a problem.
It’s hard to blame the players for wanting change when these are the results. We’ll see if Meyer ends up being the fall guy for it.
Keenan Allen keeps it real
Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Keenan Allen doesn’t play about his paper. He was asked why he left the Chargers this season after being traded and, essentially, that was his answer. Robert Zeglinski has more here:
“As Allen explained during his introductory Bears press conference, when the Chargers approached him about restructuring his contract, his answer to his former employer wasn’t emotional. The 31-year-old playmaker said he bluntly told them it wasn’t happening because he was coming off one of his best statistical seasons. That’s it.”
I’m not mad at this at all. When you’re performing at your best, you expect to be paid for it. You definitely don’t expect your job to ask you to put that money on layaway. That’s unfair.
Allen is getting what he deserves from the Bears. Is it a worse situation? Maybe. But Zeglinski asks a poignant question in his piece: “Why take a pay cut or move around money you’re owed in writing just to help your employer, especially after you performed well?”
My thoughts, exactly. Get your money, Keenan Allen. Good on you.
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