It's been a tremendous 12 months for Anthony Edwards. He grew from a budding star to a full-blown superstar as he led the Minnesota Timberwolves to their deepest playoff run in decades. He captured the attention of the NBA with ludicrous dunks and even more ludicrous soundbites. Then Edwards was off to Paris, where he played a pivotal role in helping Team USA secure another gold medal while playing alongside three of the best basketball players in history.
In simpler terms, Edwards has been smack in the middle of the spotlight for quite a while. And even now, with two months off before the 2024-25 NBA season, the Wolves star doesn't seem eager to give it up anytime soon.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal released on Tuesday, Edwards was asked how his generation of basketball players compared to the ones that came before, a regular talking point in NBA discourse. Edwards answered by boldly calling out those prior generations for lacking skill— other than Hall of Fame guard Michael Jordan.
"I didn’t watch it back in the day so I can’t speak on it," Edwards said. "They say it was tougher back then than it is now, but I don’t think anybody had skill back then. (Michael Jordan) was the only one that really had skill, you know what I mean? So that’s why when they saw Kobe (Bryant), they were like, 'Oh, my God.' But now everybody has skill."
Regardless of how you may feel about Edwards' opinion, it's objectively funny to preface with "I can't speak on it" before going on to speak on it—quite strongly, at that. Nobody has ever accused the 23-year-old of lacking for confidence, though.
Now, Edwards' praise of MJ will land well with much of the basketball-viewing population, but the rest of his take... will not, to say the least. The common argument from the likes of Charles Barkley is that the NBA of the past actually required more skill to be great than it does now because it was much harder to score before offensive-minded rule changes and the embrace of the three-point line.
It's safe to say those who believe the same will heartily disagree with Edwards' evaluation and will probably let him hear about it.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Anthony Edwards Blasts Old NBA Generations While Praising Michael Jordan.
