LAS VEGAS – Never one to lack confidence, Anthony Edwards was asked Sunday what the adjustment is going from being the No. 1 option on the Timberwolves to a team full of No. 1 options and future Hall of Famers on Team USA.
Anthony Edwards’ confidence hasn’t wavered even with star-studded Team USA
After the second team practice in Las Vegas, Anthony Edwards said he can be the team’s No. 1 option, but the Wolves star is also OK even if he doesn’t play with a group that features several Hall of Famers.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
July 8, 2024 at 4:30AM
“I’m still the No. 1 option,” Edwards said. “Y’all might look at it differently. I don’t look at it no differently.”
He then added: “I just go out there and be myself. Shoot my shots. Play defense and they got to fit in to play around me.”
As usual, Edwards’ unflappable bravado set the internet abuzz in the aftermath of his comments, considering players and NBA MVPs such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid occupy the floor with him.
But if you just saw that clip floating around social media you might not have seen before and after he said that, Edwards acknowledged the company he’s keeping at the moment, and how his role with this team might be minimal — and that’s OK with him.
“They mentioned some guys — you might not play some games, might not play that many minutes. I don’t mind,” Edwards said. “I’m playing alongside Hall of Famers. I’m just here. If they need me, I’ll be one call away.”
This is Edwards’s second consecutive summer playing for the United States after leading a much younger squad to a fourth-place finish in the FIBA World Cup. One of coach Steve Kerr’s points of emphasis in practice is how physical international teams were with that squad a season ago, and he showed them clips of that as training camp got underway on campus at UNLV.
Kerr said Edwards’ physicality can be an asset to the team.
“Ant is Ant. He’s one of the most powerful, physical athletes in the NBA,” Kerr said. “He was fantastic in FIBA last year, being able to score and play through contact. Then his ball pressure defensively will be a part of his success this summer.”
His on-ball defense could be one way Edwards gets some playing time, especially with so much scoring and offense around him.
“If I play some good defense, put pressure on the ball 94 feet, I’ll probably be on the court,” Edwards said.
Edwards has spent a lot of his time chatting with his basketball hero, Durant, who hasn’t practiced as he nurses a calf injury and is considered day-to-day.
“Once they asked me to play and I seen that he was playing, I couldn’t say no,” Edwards said. “We been talkin’ the whole time. It’s dope.”
He said he’s also been trying to learn from Curry and James, because James “done seen every coverage.”
But when it comes to who is the ultimate alpha on the team, who should have the ball in his hands when the game is on the line, other than perhaps himself, Edwards knows who he wants to have the ball.
“When the game is on the line? Who’s going to be the alpha?” Edwards said. “I think Kevin Durant. He better be. That’s who I came to see.”
Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and Keita Bates-Diop are headed to Minnesota, along with a draft pick.
