It isn’t only the fans who seem to be in awe of the wizardry that the Anthony Edwards can pull off. Despite seeing him play often, Edwards’ teammate Nickeil Alexander-Walker is also amazed by the things he can do during the games.
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Nickeil has been part of the Wolves franchise from midway into the 2022-2023 season. Since the Canadian joined the team, he’s had the first-hand experience of watching Edwards’ on-court wizardry.
In a podcast appearance, the guard explained how Edwards constantly finds new ways to baffle his teammates.
“He’ll go on a run and he’ll do some stuff and I’m like ‘what is going on?’ The John Collins dunk… Game 1, he scored like 12 straight. He just went, he just blacked. He just does things and I’m like ‘what is happening? How is this guy doing this?’… It’s like he can enhance himself by turning it on in his mind. That’s a blessing that he has.”
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This specific season was the best campaign of Edwards’ career. With Karl-Anthony Towns out for the majority of the season, the combo guard assumed the leadership role and led the team to their best regular season finish since the 2003-2004 season. Additionally, the 22-year-old logged a staggering game average of 25.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists to get an All-NBA Second Team nod.
Despite elevating his game – more points, rebounds, and assists than the regular season – during the postseason, Ant, who had managed to get the Wolves past the Suns and the Nuggets, could not prevent his team from being eliminated by the Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.
After his brilliant post-season run, Edwards will now be hoping that his work ethic will impress Team USA coach Steve Kerr.
Will Ant be a crucial piece for Kerr during the Olympics?
Edwards has developed into one of the best guards in the league due to an impressive work ethic. And Edwards can thank Kerr for indirectly instilling this attribute in him.
During the 2020 pre-draft workout with the Golden State Warriors, Anthony Edwards believed that he was giving it his all. However, Kerr entered the training session and had a peculiar way of motivating the youngster. The GSW coach made sure that he riled up the former Georgia Bulldog star by taunting him. Edwards recollected,
“I thought I was working hard. When he came, I was going through drills and he kept stopping them, like, ‘That’s all you got? That’s all you got?’ And I’m like, ‘Bruh, I’m going hard as you want me to go. What you want me to do? I’m sweating crazy.’”
The lack of belief that Kerr showed Edwards at the dinner table didn’t hurt the latter in the wrong way. Instead, he used it as fuel to train even harder. Edwards said,
“Me and my trainer riding home after dinner and we’re just talking like we got to pick it up. I don’t know how, I don’t know what we got to do, but we got to pick it up. After that. I became a madman at the gym.”
Now, with Ant being part of Team USA, it’ll be interesting to see how Kerr manages the lineups and what role he’ll assign the Ant-Man in the upcoming Olympics.
