‘WOLVES BACK’: Anthony Edwards introduces the Timberwolves back to the world

Team USA players came inside theKerry Sports basketball facility one by one, each sporting theirpreferred and comfortable gear from the blazing heat of thePhilippine weather they were not so accustomed to. They were aboutto hold their first practices in Manila for the FIBA World Cup2023, the sport’s world championship meet.

Anthony Edwards was one of thelast ones to enter the gym along with fellow NBA no.1 overall pickPaolo Banchero. He had his Adidas Adilette comfort slides put onwith black Team USA jogger pants and an Adidas triple-coloredhoodie. Edwards was fixated on his phone, walking past whisperingreporters onto the team’s huddle at center court, clearly being thecenter of attraction for the young Team USA squad.

“That’s who they call theAnt-Man.”

Once upon a time, Edwards’ namewas held in a much lower regard. The 22-year-old is considered tobe one of the best and brightest young players in the league buthas yet to establish himself as one of the staples and premiersuperstars with an iconic and deep playoff performance that cementshim in that tier.

Until these playoffs.

Edwards has separated himselffrom the pack of young superstars leading their teams and enteredthe upper echelon of basketball royalty in the NBA. With the leagueanticipating the ‘changing of the guard’ as current faces LeBronJames, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant eventually diminish theirshining glories as the league’s best of the best, Edwards comes inas one of the hopefuls to take the mantle when that inevitable daycomes.

“I’ve been saying that he(Edwards) is the face of the league but he hates it when I say it –but it’s true. The future’s so bright you gotta put the sunglasseson when you’re walking around him,” Karl-Anthony Towns said, intheir post-game interview after their first-round series withthePhoenixSuns.

Edwards glanced briefly atTowns, who was beside him at the podium. He had that little smileon his face while bowing down his head as his teammate praised himin front of the listening reporters. He looked at Towns again, thistime shaking his head in disbelief, but it had the element ofconfidence. There was obviously a focus on what Towns was talkingabout but with Edwards’ elite level-headedness through itall.

“You’re a young superstar in theleague and you have to face it,” the statement emphasized onEdwards as he’s trying to soak it all in.

Ever since Edwards has beenadamant about not calling himself anything until he wins in theplayoffs. Now that his Wolves beat the Suns to win the franchise’sfirst playoff series since 2004, Edwards certainly has all theright in the world to give himself even the tiniest bit ofpraise.

He thought for a good threeseconds, glancing at the reporter and the horizon for a moment. Hewas just asked if he was now able to give himself some grace inthat regard when people call him that ‘young superstar’ label. Asmall grin emerged onto his face, clearly oozing with confidencealbeit a controlled one. He looked back with that smile on his facewhile nodding, he said:

“Nah, not yet a man. Notyet.”

Behind this usual brash,confident, and charismatic Edwards is a hungry side that never getscontented and satisfied until he achieves his ultimate goal:winning a championship. Maybe he’ll have the guts to call himselfone when they reach the Finals and end up going all the way. Butthat remains to be seen.

He’s got the swagger, thepersonality, and the charisma to be marketable by the league.Edwards mentioned wanting to go kill everybody that’s in front ofhim, and boy, he did.

Edwards swept the Suns featuringhis childhood idol and favorite player of all time Kevin Durant,who he has been jawing back and forth at several times in theseries. This was him going at his childhood hero, taking on thechallenge and never backing down. However, the play of the serieshappened in Game 4 when Minnesota was trying to put the nail in thecoffin for Phoenix.

With 2:18 left on the clock inthe 4th quarter, Edwards blew by Beal and rose through the air ashigh as he could. Durant made the right business decision by notgoing up together with a rampaging bull as he should For a briefmoment, he looked like the second coming of a certain MichaelJordan – yet again – after he’s been labeled as such throughout thecourse of the season after each jaw-dropping spectacular play.Edwards threw down a ferocious poster slam dunk that might haveliterally blown the roof over the Footprint Center as the playsignaled the beginning of the end for the Suns.

Durant and Edwards will playtogether in Team USA in August for the Paris Olympics, and thesetwo for sure would go head to head making their practice sessionsmuch more interesting. “It’s definitely a good feeling because he’smy favorite player of all time, and I can tell him that I was theone who sent him home. It’s gonna be a fun summer for sure,”Edwards said.

First game of the WesternConference Finals and up against the Nuggets, Edwards scored aplayoff career-high 43 points. He dissected their entire defense,scoring in all types of ways imaginable for a superstar. Edwardshit threes, blown by some of the toughest defenders in the NBAAaron Gordon, and hit fadeaway mid-range jumpers reminiscent ofJordan. More importantly, Edwards displayed the level of maturity asuperstar has to make in the playoffs – playing off of yourteammates and playmaking for the entire team. He has done it so farwith relative ease and that’s why the Timberwolves have found theirearly success in this postseason.

He’s doing it against supposedlytheir biggest challenge – the defending champions – who sent themhome a year ago. “Last year we didn’t have Jaden (McDaniels) andNaz (Reid) against them so it was quite frustrating. Now that wehave both I think we can definitely do better,” Edwards said abouttheir biggest thing in this rematch series vs Denver is beinghealthy.

Before the season started,Edwards was this up-and-coming 22-year-old star leading his nationat the World Championships for a chance at glory. Although theAmericans ended up not medalling after losing to eventual worldchampions Germany in the semifinals and to neighboring Canada inthe third-place game, Edwards was clearly the best player on theteam filled with young American talent. He led Team USA in scoring,and at 22 years old, this was only the start of a big yearahead.

Edwards then was the clear-cutbest player for the third-best team in the West, with Minnesotahaving a 56-26 record. Those 56 wins were the most since 2004 whenthey had 58 and went to the Western Conference Finals. They wereled back then by legend Kevin Garnett but that was also their lasttime seeing the playoffs.

20 years later, Edwards is nowshouldering all the burden by taking this Wolves team back torelevance, basking in all the glory he’s worked so hard to attain.He’s one of the bonafide young rising superstars in the league, andhe intends to take them all the way.

Edwards’ huge season andascension to superstardom could be attributed back to something yousee coming even from a mile away. And it all started in that summerlengthy yet productive summer in 2023.

While most players use theirsummers to recuperate, have a vacation somewhere, and spend timewith families and loved ones, Edwards took a privileged yetopportunistic route: play with the National Team at the FIBA WorldCup. Usually, NBA superstars all express their willingness to playwith the National Team at the Olympics. For no definite reason,somehow the FIBA World Cup does not seem appealing to play for theolder/senior superstar guys, so it’s usually the juniors/young guyswho represent Team USA. Anthony Edwards took up that challenge andbecame the best player for the team and in turn, he’s reaping thebenefits of it in the playoffs.

“I’ve put in work this summer.Big shoutout to the USA team, man. They got me ready for theseason.”

That killer mentality thatEdwards has is something that’s never seen often and has been withonly a select few in the history of the game, particularly Jordanand Lakers great Kobe Bryant. Behind all that bold and toughpersonality, however, is a side of himself that genuinely enjoysplaying with his teammates.

When asked about the prospect ofhaving his Wolves’ teammates, the first thing out of his mouth washow he was excited to meet them while playing for their respectivecountries (Rudy Gobert for France, Karl-Anthony Towns for DominicanRepublic, Kyle Anderson for China, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker forCanada). He looked forward to playing against them, citing how muchfun he would have once it happened.

Despite his clear burgeoningsuperstardom, however, Edwards still deflected every creditthrown towards him. When asked what he feels as one of the guysbeing billed as one of the next faces of the league, Edwardsdismissed the idea faster than a Math teacher dispersing studentsafter giving out a tough assignment due – immediatelyanswering without hesitation that he does not make anything ofit.

“I’m just gonna keep working,man. I make nothing of it, yeah. I just hope that I keep gettingbetter.”

It was clear all along among allthe people in the gym that fateful day: Edwards had the most auraout of them all. It was just oozing, something you can feel whenyou’re around certain people. It’s kind of intimidating, but onlyto a certain extent. You can just feel the energy brewing and thatcertain look when you come across one of the ones. The underlyingfactor before the season was Minnesota only having five national TVgames all season long. With most of their games out of the eyes ofthe majority, Edwards assured one thing going into the seasonsternly and convincingly.

“We just gonna try to keepplaying, man. We’re not really worried about the national TV games.As long as we win, we’ll be on TV when we make it into theplayoffs. The world will know about us.”

As their playoff mantrasuggests, the Timberwolves have been waiting for this moment since2004. From the annals of the great Kevin Garnett’s era to usheringthis new one paved by superstar-in-the-making, young AnthonyEdwards, the Minnesota Timberwolves have arrived.