Wise-cracking Timberwolves phenom Anthony “Ant-Man” Edwards took the league by storm with highlight after highlight in his first year of the league. As he progresses through his fourth season and first deep playoffs campaign with Minnesota, Edwards again announces himself as one of the league’s brightest stars. While he may be a few years away from MVP conversations, the fiercely competitive Georgia native arrived on the scene with this year’s playoff push as a top-five player in the league.
Edwards is a fierce presence on the floor with the ball in his hands, averaging 25.9 points per game in the 2023-2024 regular season. He scores most of his points within the three-point arc, driving to the basket and making tough contested shots or soaring high above the rim for an arena-rocking dunk. The six-foot-four guard established himself as one of the game’s premier dunkers, posterizing a solid defender in Alperen Sengun twice in one game en route to a 44-point explosion.
His high competitive drive also makes him one of the more active players on the floor on the defensive side of the ball. The best way to describe his defense is “tenacious”, as he averaged 1.3 steals and 0.5 blocks a game. Edwards gets back on the defensive side quickly, evidenced by his 5.4 rebounds per game.
After Edwards’ playoff explosion, comparisons to the greatest NBA player of all time cropped up in Michael Jordan. Internet memes circulated comparing the facial features of both Jordan and Edwards, and the two shooting guards are more alike in more ways than one. Both men are midrange-first combo guards who were drafted high and have an extremely high motor.
However, what makes them so similar and drives the memes is the sheer competitiveness between the two men. Jordan and Edwards are notorious trash talkers, with most of Jordan’s “Final Dance” documentary highlighting just how hyper-competitive he was.
As for Edwards, he loves to talk trash to the other opponents. He does not use it in the same way Kobe did to get into his opponent’s head (like the time he learned French to harass Tony Parker), but Edwards sees it as competition spilling over between the players. After the last game against the Nuggets, Edwards exchanged words with star guard Jamal Murray towards the end of the game.
“I just told his ass we love that," said Edwards, who scored a game-high 44 points in Sunday's outing. "'Keep talking [like] that. That's what we like.' Well, I loved it. He didn't say nothing back. But I'm pretty sure he heard me. They heard me. You live for that."
Edwards’ love of trash-talking often veers into the humorous. Adam Sandler took advantage of that when he cast Edwards as Kermit in his movie Hustle. Edwards’ character played a top prospect and antagonist to the main character, and he delivered some memorable lines. “You should tell her shack it up with me. I’ll be a great stepdad, give her a real man to look up to,” Edwards said to Juancho Hernangomez’s character about his girlfriend and daughter in the movie.
Jordan was also notorious for getting into the heads of his opponents. Once, during a playoff series with the Hornets who were down one point and three games in the series, Jordan stepped back and let Muggsy Bogues take the game-winning shot.
“Shoot it, you f**king midget,” Jordan said. Bogues did, but he did not even come close. This humiliated Bogues so much that he was never the same after that shot. He averaged 5.9 points per game for the rest of his career after posting three straight double-digit point-per-game seasons prior.
Both the shooting guards used trash talk to gain a competitive edge and express their love of the game. However, both of them know they can go too far sometimes, and that is what makes both Edwards and Jordan so special in that regard: both do not care what kind of trouble their mouth gets them in, because they know they can back it up. Just ask Alperen Sengun or Larry Bird.
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