Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was impressed with Minnesota Timberwolves’ young star Anthony Edwards this summer with Team USA. Kerr called him “the guy” for the team. Despite failing to medal, there were positives to take away and Edward’s rising star was one. Kerr believes he will make a leap. Is Edwards America’s best chance at reclaiming the world’s best player championship belt?
“He genuinely believes he’s the best player in the gym every single night. And he’s such a dynamic young player. I think he’s taking a leap,” Kerr said.
Kerr Motivated Edwards Long Before He Coached Him
Edwards has immense talent and always believed he had the work ethic to be great, but was challenged by Kerr long before he was his Team USA coach. In a story that dates back to Edwards’ pre-draft workout with the Warriors in 2020, Kerr and then general manager Bob Myers told Edwards they wouldn’t take him.
“I thought I was working hard,” Edwards said, when recalling the story. “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.
“He’s like, ‘Man, you’ve got to see Steph [Curry], KD and Klay [Thompson] work out. They still was continuously telling me, ‘You didn’t work hard enough. If we had the No. 1 pick, we wouldn’t take you.’ And I was just like, ‘Damn, that’s crazy.'”
If you know anything about most professional athletes, that type of motivation is all they need.
“Me and my trainer riding home after dinner and we’re just talking like we got to pick it up,” Edwards said. “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.”
Edwards made his first All-Star team this year. Had his best statistical season last year, and his best in terms of on the floor impact, finishing in the 89th percentile in EPM.
This past summer he signed a five-year, $205 million rookie max extension. So he’s now being paid like a franchise guy. All that’s left to do is show it on the court.
Becoming The Best Player In The World Is Hard
“I’m going to need my teammates to do it,” Edwards said. “I can’t do anything without my teammates. As long as we go out there as a group of five, whoever’s on the court, and we come together and we win and I do what I do individually, I think whatever the next step people are expecting me to take I will take, but it has to be with my teammates.”
As to whether he can claim the best player in the world title, he has youth on his side. He’s only 22.
The last five MVP awards have gone to international players and the preseason favorite, according to Las Vegas, is Luka Doncic.
If you look at the top-20 finishers in EPM last season and remove every American player age 26 and older, and all non-American players, you’ve got Jayson Tatum (25), Zion Williamson (23), Tyrese Haliburton (23), and Jaren Jackson Jr. (23).
Then there is Ja Morant (23) and Trae Young (24) who also finished ahead of Edwards in EPM.
Why does EPM matter?
The MVP winner in each of the last 10 seasons has been inside the top-5, often first or second.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility for Edwards. But he’s got to leapfrog some elite countrymen already in his age cohort. To say nothing of the elite internationals we already know and the ones we haven’t heard of yet.
