Anthony Edwards is not one to shy away from accepting a competitive challenge. Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise when he was tricked by Stephen Curry into placing an almost impossible bet with US’s Table Tennis team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Looking to honor the challenge and stay true to his word, Edwards made his presence known as the latter roster competed to reach the round of 16 in the singles tournament. The sight of the NBA player was definitely something that took a 28-year-old Youth Olympics bronze medallist by surprise.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Table Tennis star Lily Zhang touched base on often encountering strangers whose first reaction is “I bet I can beat you, let’s play.’” Therefore, after having experienced many such instances, it shouldn’t have been different for her when Anthony Edwards made a similar claim during the Paris Olympics’s opening ceremony. What was unique, however, is that the NBA player didn’t seem to backtrack from his promise, causing the Olympic athlete to be surprised at seeing him cheering her on from the stands.

“They said they would come,” Sung said in a statement while letting out a laugh. “But we thought they were lying.” Anthony Edwards and Lily Zhang first interacted as the Team USA boat travelled through the River Seine during the opening ceremony. Stephen Curry, who introduced the two athletes, proceeded to have some fun by outright stating “Ant! They said they could beat you 21-0!” With the remark igniting Edwards’s competitive spirit, the player replied back “I got some people here that say they gonna beat me in ping-pong, 21-0. I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it. I’m not having it. I’m not having it. Eleven to zero, I’m scoring one point.”

As stated earlier, Lily Zhang has had lots of people challenge her and then regret putting out the proposition. Therefore, when asked if she could really put both Curry and Edwards down with a 11-0 score, she replied “That’s for sure. But if they wanted a challenge, I’m always open to humbling them a little.” By appearing to view Zhang’s game, Edwards showed that he is not hiding in the shadows. When the time comes, he will stand across the playing table and attempt to defend his honor.

Similarly to the men’s basketball roster of Team USA, Lily Zhang found early success after she defeated Brazilian player Bruna Takahashi by a 4-2 score. However, despite reportedly putting her best performance against South Korean athlete Shin Yubin, Zhang lost the matchup by 4-0. Fortunately, her performance may have left a big impression on Anthony Edwards, who may be a bit worried about their future challenge in the present.

Anthony Edwards looks to follow up on his swimming challenge with Phoebe Bacon as well

Ironically, Lily Zhang did not end up being the only Olympic athlete with whom Anthony Edwards set up a challenge in their respective sport. The 22-year-old also fell victim to his competitive spirit after not only accepting a challenge from Pheobe Bacon, but making it a bit more interesting.

It all started day before yesterday, when the official Instagram account of Team USA’s swimming team uploaded a clip. It featured a compilation of Edwards two interviews in which he stated that his favourite form of competitive swimming is the ‘Freestyle’ due to its fast nature. This caused the 21-year-old Bacon to put out a challenge to Edwards to go head-to-head on the pool in a ‘50m freestyle’ race. Highlighting the clip on his story, the NBA player exclaimed “If we doin 20m, we can talk??”

One of the interviews highlighted in the clip had Edwards bashing his fellow basketball teammates on the Team USA roster by stating “They ain’t no swimmers. You got Embiid, you got AD, and Bam, they ain’t swimming fast. Bron, he ain’t swimming fast. KD, Kawhi (Leonard), (Jayson) Tatum, they’re not swimming fast at all.” Feeling the confidence of the Minnesota Timberwolves star clearly reflecting, Phoebe Bacon may have wanted to know whether Edwards is worth his words. Due to this, Edwards may not be seen heading back to the United States before fulfilling his set challenges in both Table Tennis and Swimming.

Before you go, remember to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.