National Basketball Association

Starting Five: Why Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards is the future of the NBA

Updated Dec. 9, 2021 1:05 p.m. ET

By Yaron Weitzman
FOX Sports NBA Writer

Maybe you haven’t watched much Minnesota Timberwolves basketball this season.

If that is the case, you’re missing out. Not just because the team is playing solid basketball, but also because the Timberwolves have one of the league’s most exciting budding stars in Anthony Edwards.

Which leads us to this week’s Starting Five: Here are five reasons why Edwards, who was the first pick of the 2020 draft, is the future of the NBA.

The Starting Five | Five reasons Anthony Edwards is the future of the NBA

Yaron Weitzman explains why Anthony Edwards' impressive skills, explosiveness and personality will take him far in the NBA.

1. He’s not even 21, and he's already one of the NBA’s most electric players.

The thing that stands out already about Edwards is how he stands out on an NBA court despite being only 20 years old. His output — 21.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game with an effective field-goal percentage (which adjusts for 3-pointers) of 50% — is something we almost never see from players his age. In fact, the short list of players who’ve matched those numbers before turning 21 features all-time greats such as Jordan, Magic and LeBron.

But the most jarring thing about Edwards is that it’s not just his numbers. It’s also how he looks when putting them up, how he stands out athletically in an ecosystem featuring some of the greatest and most gifted athletes in the world. He’s fast and bouncy and explosive but also physical, the rare player capable of combining power and precision.

Through Tuesday, only three players — Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James and Jaylen Brown — were averaging more transition opportunities per game than Edwards, according to NBA.com’s tracking data. And only Giannis had scored more transition points.

2. ANT + KAT = WINS

Another impressive thing about Edwards is how at such a young age, he’s already able to impact winning. He isn't filling up on empty calories or putting up stats on a rudderless team. The Wolves might not be great, but at 11-14, they’re just three games out of fourth place in the Western Conference, which, given the team’s history, might be an accomplishment worthy of a parade.

Edwards is one of the reasons. When he’s on the floor, the Wolves have outscored opponents by 9.1 points per 100 possessions. According to Cleaning the Glass, they’ve performed at the level of a 25-win team without Edwards and a 49-win team with him.

Even more impressive: The Timberwolves’ new starting lineup of Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, Patrick Beverley, D'Angelo Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt has outscored opponents by a ridiculous 50.1 points per 100 possessions. Granted, they’ve played only 10 games together, but that’s still 15.9 points per 100 possessions better than the league’s second-most potent lineup.

Edwards is a big part of this, partly because he’s looking like the perfect running mate, in terms of skills but also demeanor, to pair alongside Towns. We saw a great example of this on Wednesday, after the Timberwolves’ 136-104 loss to the Jazz. Towns scored 22 points but put up only 11 shots and, after the game, Edwards was open about some advice he gave Towns to beat double teams.

"I told KAT the best way to beat it — you got to go quick," Edwards said. "I tell him every game, every practice, ‘Nobody can guard you. You can shoot the ball, you can handle the ball, you got touch, you got everything. They can’t guard you.' If he just stopped waiting on the double team, we'd be a way better team."

Towns is one of the most talented big men in the league. His problem has been figuring out how to translate all that talent into wins. Right now it seems like Edwards’ presence could be the answer.

3. Everyone loves him.

Anthony Edwards is like a mix of Nick Young and Jimmy Butler. He’s genuinely funny and genuinely sharp but also serious about his craft. He might be the most captivating personality in the league right now.

How many players during hot streaks will turn to the opposing coach and tell him to call a timeout?

Or answer a flip phone during a media conference?

Or talk trash to Draymond Green during a game — and earn Green's respect because of it?

"I’ve never met someone who’s always smiling the way he is," said Sean Hayes, an associate strength and conditioning coordinator at the University of Georgia, where Edwards spent a year. Hayes adores Edwards. He shared a story illustrating why.

"It was early in our time together," Hayes said, "and I wanted to get the guys going, so I raised my voice and started shouting, ‘Let’s go!’ to them and challenging them, including Anthony."

Not long after, Edwards strolled over to Hayes and draped his arm around Hayes’ shoulders.

"And he turns to me," Hayes said, "and says, ‘You know, Coach, you don’t have to yell at me. Just tell me what you need me to do, and I’ll do it.’"

Hayes was floored. "I was like, ‘Holy s---, this is a 17-year-old, and he’s doing this?’ And he did what he said. He did everything I asked that whole year, never skipped anything, was never treated differently and, more importantly, never asked to be treated differently."

People around the Timberwolves describe Edwards similarly. They use words such as "authentic" and "genuine." It’s difficult to pull off silly and serious. Edwards does exactly that.

4. He’s already getting better.

Before last year’s NBA Draft, Edwards found himself in some hot water for telling ESPN that he wasn’t "that into basketball."

I asked Ty Anderson, Edwards’ high school coach, about that quote.

"I don’t know what he was trying to say," he said. "All I can tell you is that motherf---er loves basketball."

Anderson had all sorts of examples. He said Edwards used to ask to have the gym opened on Christmas and Thanksgiving, and sometimes he’d ask Anderson to drop him off at another gym after practice. Sometimes, Anderson said, Edwards would spend weeks studying an Instagram highlight just so he could hone a specific move.

"Nobody who doesn’t enjoy playing could work that hard," Anderson said. And it’s clear that playing in the NBA hasn’t changed Edwards’ approach.

His first big jump came midway through last season, when he upped his scoring output (14.9 to 23.8 points per game) and field-goal percentage (37.1 to 45.4), and this season, he picked up right where he left off. His numbers are consistent, but if you peek beneath the hood, you can spot more growth.

"He's one of the most coachable guys I've been around," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. "He does whatever you ask him to do, so it's easy to get him trending in the right directions."

Finch gave an example. "Early in the season," he said, "[Edwards] was taking a lot of tough shots. And we just kind of talked to him."

Look at the numbers, and you can see Edwards was listening. Last season, 45.4% of his shot attempts were guarded "tight" or "very tight," by defenders, according to NBA Advanced Stats. This season, that mark has plummeted to 38.4%.

5. The ceiling is unlimited.

What’s most exciting about Edwards is that he still has so much room to grow. Given his size (6-foot-4, 225 pounds) and athleticism, for example, he should be taking more than 3.7 free throws per game, and he should be better at finishing around the rim. The 61% he’s shooting there puts him in the league's 53rd percentile, according to Cleaning the Glass. He also should hit closer to 40% on his 3s (he’s at 34.7% right now). But again, he’s in his second season and not even 21.

"He's trying to figure out a lot of things at the same time, and he has this unbelievable confidence and swagger about how he plays, and he wants to prove to the world that he can do so many things, and in many ways he can," Finch said. "But you still have to really mine out who you are over and over again because that's what this league's about. Like, what can you do at a high level repeatedly?"

The answer for Edwards could very well be everything.

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports and the author of "Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports." Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.