Critics Forced Anthony Edwards To Announce Career-Altering Decision As Self-Doubts Provokes Rare Claim

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying,” said Michael Jordan. To grow in a sport like the NBA requires players to move beyond their shortcomings, and work to improve themselves to a level that the same doesn’t pull them down again. For Anthony Edwards, this involved focusing on something that had been a roadblock for him over the years: his shooting. As the player is set to play in his 3rd All-Star game in the next few hours, he didn’t mind giving a progress report.

The Minnesota Star Tribune recently highlighted how Anthony Edwards came close to not being an All-Star again this season. This was because Charles Barkley, the honorary coach and general manager of one of the 4 teams set to play, did not choose to place his faith in the Timberwolves star. A reason behind this could be that Barklay had criticized Edwards for taking too many jump shots during one of the network’s broadcasts this season. However, as he revealed, criticism compelled the player to start making those shots in the first place.

“I’ve been trying to perfect it,” said Edwards earlier this season. “Because when I came in the league, the main thing was, ‘He could get downhill, but he can’t shoot.’ … So I’ve been trying to knock that off my name for a long time. It’s kind of on it a little bit, but I feel like I’m trending in the right direction.”

During the previous NBA season, Anthony Edwards was averaging 2.4-6.7 (35.7%) three-pointers. That stat improved by quite a bit this season. In the last 54 games, Edwards has managed to average 4.2-10.1 (41.4%) three-pointers! The 23-year-old initially credited his three-point shooting improvement to spending more time with Stephen Curry during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

During an interview with Rachel Nichols, when asked who influenced him the most in Paris, Edwards replied “I’d say Steph. Playing without the ball, running around, cutting, setting screening, getting guys open. Steph did it for the whole Olympics and I definitely try to mimic that.” However, the remarks highlighted by The Minnesota Star Tribune showed that the need to improve his shooting has been there since his arrival to the NBA.

The level that Anthony Edwards could reach with his shot improvement was something that was noticed right from the player’s early basketball days. According to reports, the future Timberwolves star used to tell his childhood coach, and now business manager, Justin Holland that if Holland taught him how to shoot, “I’d be unguardable.” The same, however, was not place on priority. As a result, Edwards shot under 30% from three-point range in college at Georgia. The frequent knock on him, during the draft process, became that Edwards might never develop a consistent shot. Canius Hoopus had highlighted the player’s early 2020-21 season run seeing him dealing with a problematic shot selection. All of this proved to Edwards that he needed to improve.

The issue with shot selection proved to Anthony Edwards that he isn’t a perfect player. He realizes this fact, which is also may have ultimately led him to recently make a bold claim.

Anthony Edwards denies wanting to be the next face of the NBA: “That’s what they’ve got Wemby for”

Few players hold the potential to become the faces of the NBA after LeBron James and Stephen Curry’s retirement. Anthony Edwards is certainly on that list. After all, not every player easily gets to draw comparisons with the likes of Michael Jordan, and become his team’s primary player at such a young age. However, during the recent All-Star presser, Anthony Edwards openly said “Not really” when asked if he considers himself to be a top candidate to be the face of the league going forward. Instead, the Timberwolves star said, “That’s what they’ve got Wemby for”.

Did this statement indicate self-doubt? Probably, given how Victor Wembanyama’s individual prowess has been a topic of conversation since his first NBA games. However, during an interview with the ‘NBA TV’ crew, Edwards went into more detail about his claim by stating, “Well, I’m capable of being that guy. But I don’t want to be that guy, put it like that. I want to be the guy to just show up and hoop and just kill dudes and go home”.

The upcoming All-Star game will pit Anthony Edwards against Victor Wembanyama. Therefore, if the shooting guard has any doubts, he can resolve them by dominating the French star.