The basketball community, particularly older generations, is attacking Anthony Edwards over his controversial comment, that players in the 1990s weren’t as skilled as today’s athletes. Magic Johnson was among those who weighed in and his unexpected response left Shannon Sharpe surprised by the “veracity” he displayed.
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In front of a live audience, Stephen A. Smith asked the Hall of Famer about Edwards’ statement regarding the skill difference between the older generation and the current generation. Magic believed that it didn’t require any reaction because he didn’t want to hear the opinions of a player who had no championship titles in his trophy cabinet.
“I don’t never respond to a guy that’s never won a championship. Nothing to really say. He didn’t won a college championship. I don’t even know if he won a high school championship…”
Many people found this answer to be savage. However, Sharpe expressed being shocked by Earvin’s answer. While discussing the same on ESPN’s First Take, Sharpe claimed that such a reaction was uncharacteristic of Johnson considering that he is usually diplomatic with his words regarding such controversial topics.
“I’ve known Magic Johnson 30 years… I was shocked with the veracity in which he said what he said because normally Magic is a lot more diplomatic… For him to take that tone in the harshness in which he said it lets me know he was highly agitated by what Ant said…”
Sharpe further shared his two cents on the debate and claimed that the sporting world had seen a lot of advancement in terms of training and nutrition. While the analyst lauded certain players – Hakeem Olajuwon, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson – for being skilled, Sharpe picked the current generation to be more skillful as a whole.
“… They have the advent of having saw what those guys did and studied those guys. It’s hard for me to believe that the inventions today are not better than some of the inventions we had 30 years ago. But as a whole it would be hard press for you to say… That there are not more skilled players. Guys that can shoot, dribble, and do multiple things today than they were 20, 30 years ago.”
The former Broncos tight-end probably dished out the best take on what seems to be the hottest topic of discussion in the basketball community. While there were skilled players in the older era then, due to all the advancement and technology available, players have gotten better now.
In all probabilities, the players in the coming generations will look at the 2020s era in the same manner as Anthony Edwards spoke about the 1990s.
