Kevin Garnett has influenced many young players with his energy, tenacity, and relentlessness. Since retiring, Garnett has started his podcast and had some interesting takes on today’s NBA. One such take compared Anthony Edwards to Michael Jordan, specifically a rookie Jordan back in 1984.
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Recently, Kevin Garnett took to his podcast to shower Anthony Edwards with some praise. And what better praise there is to compare a player to arguably the greatest to ever play the game, Michael Jordan?
Garnett’s comments were relayed to Edwards by Rachel Nichols who asked the Minnesota Timberwolves star what he thought of The Big Ticket’s take. Ant-Man did not seem to disagree with KG at all and had a few pointers of his own.
Kevin Garnett did compare Anthony Edwards to Michael Jordan but it was the rookie MJ he drew comparisons to. And that is what the Timberwolves guard emphasized as well that he did have certain similarities to the ‘84 Jordan. Edwards specified that a comparison to a 1984 rookie Michael Jordan was something he could see as opposed to comparing him with a ‘96 or a ‘97 MJ.
“That’s the OG man. Whatever he says, goes. So, anybody who wanna argue with him, you gotta take it up with Michael Jordan…I think he’s right, ‘84 Jordan. He didn’t say ‘96, or ‘97. ‘84, you know, he’s finding himself.”
KG drawing comparisons between Anthony Edwards and a rookie Michael Jordan does make sense. Right from his rookie year, MJ led his team in scoring, rebounds, and assists. Though Anthony Edwards may not have that same success, he does have some shades of MJ. The way he carries himself on the court, his approach on offense, and the high-flying tendency to finish over defenders.
One thing Edwards has done in terms of what MJ did was make the Minnesota Timberwolves a playoff contender. However, Edwards was able to do it much better than Jordan since he only brought the Chicago Bulls to the seventh seed whereas Edwards and the Wolves are currently the number one team in the West.
It may have taken Edwards four years in the league to be compared to even a rookie Michael Jordan but by the looks of the video, it does not seem like the Ant-Man is complaining.
Anthony Edwards’ numbers compared to Michael Jordan
Anthony Edwards, though a bit undersized than Michael Jordan at 6’4, does have quite a lot of similarities to the Chicago Bulls legend. Let’s break down MJ’s numbers from his rookie year and Edwards’ previous year in the league.
During his rookie year, Michael Jordan led his team with 28.2 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 5.9 APG numbers. He also led his team in steals with 2.4 SPG, free throw percentage, minutes and total games played that season. As for Anthony Edwards, he averaged 26.1 PPG, 5.2 RPG, and 5.2 APG in the 2023-24 NBA season. He too led his team in steals with 2.1 steals per game along with averaging the most minutes played on the team.
Michael Jordan had 6 40+ point games in his rookie season whereas Anthony Edwards had none. MJ also had 23 30-point games or more as opposed to Edwards’ 18 30-point games or more in the 51 games he played last season.
So, Edwards may not have reached the same explosive point production as MJ but Kevin Garnett sure seems to believe that he is at the rookie Jordan level. Let’s see how far the Timberwolves go this offseason being the number one seed in the Western Conference.
