Arguably the greatest ever, but the first success did not come easily for Michael Jordan either. A fact that Magic Johnson has emphasized to counter Anthony Edwards‘ claims about the players that existed before MJ. In a recent statement, the Minnesota Timberwolves star questioned the skill level of all such players. However, his claim did not go down well with 5x NBA champ Johnson.

To say there were no great players before Mike makes no sense to Buck, especially when it took quite some time for the Bulls legend to claim his first championship. “What they don’t understand, Michael Jordan didn’t win in his 6th, 7th year. So I guess it was some great players before Michael Jordan,” Johnson said. There is no denying that ‘His Airness’ struggled quite a bit for even his first NBA appearance in the league.

Even if one could excuse his rookie season, there is no ignoring the fact the 14x All-Star suffered a clean sweep in the playoffs at the hands of the Boston Celtics for two consecutive seasons. Although Mike dropped some impressive performances in both of those seasons, the fact is MJ alone could not prevent the loss. And even after reaching the later stages of the playoffs, it still took another three seasons’ duration for Michael Jordan’s Bulls to overcome the Detroit Pistons and make its first appearance in the NBA finals.

So it’s clear the league had enough skilled players back then to prevent Michael Jordan-like talent from winning until he found a concrete line-up to support him. Highlighting such a point, and coming down on Anthony Edwards, Johnson still expressed love for the Wolves star and his game. The Lakers icon, however, believes it’s important for the Wolves star to achieve something before he makes bold claims.

“If I’m him, I’m just saying, ‘you know what, we had a great run. We won the gold medal. I’m disappointed by what happened last season. We didn’t win the championship and work on that, right?'” Johnson said. The 5x NBA champion, however, believes that players nowadays say things to get more clicks, views, and followers. “But when you come at me or come at us, I’m always come back…” he added.

What exactly did Anthony Edwards speak about players before Michael Jordan?

During an interview with Wall Street Journal’s Lane Florsheim, Edwards had earlier spoken on the level of talent in the league during the Jordan era. The 23-year-old mentioned how people say it was tougher back then, but he believes not many players had skills during the time.

“[Michael Jordan] was the only one that really had skill…” he said. The statement has received backlash from a wide section of the NBA community. In fact, in his first response to the Wolves star, Magic was quite rough on the 23-year-old.

He stated he does not respond to a guy who has never won a championship. “He didn’t win a college championship, I don’t even know if he won a high school championship,” he said. While Edwards’ opinion may seem flawed after Johnson’s counter, do you believe the veteran could have gone a bit easy on 2x All-Star? Let us know in the comments below.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.