Anthony Edwards Is Already a Superstar, and He’s Just Getting Started

When did you first know Anthony Edwards was a future superstar?

Was it the dunk over Yuta Watanabe?

Or John Collins? Or one of the Alperen Sengun dunks?

Was it his playoff-debut 36 points on 23 shots against the Grizzlies, or the 34, 36, and 41 he dropped on the eventual champion Nuggets last spring? Or do you remember Edwards dropping 33 second-half points NBA-Jam-style with Georgia on Michigan State in Maui?

Maybe you discovered Edwards' gregarious smile in Adam Sandler's Hustle movie and just knew that man was a star.

Or perhaps it took you until his last time on the court, when he stared down his idol Kevin Durant and hit bucket after bucket, making every play down the stretch to send the Suns home packing.

Whenever it happened, once it clicked, you knew: Anthony Edwards is a natural-born superstar.

Superstars aren't created. They're born that way, and maybe you knew Ant was a star from the moment you first laid eyes on him.

Edwards has been a star all his life. He played football growing up — quarterback, running back, cornerback. He was one of the best running back prospects in the country by age 10. He won a high school basketball championship and became the No. 1 prospect in the country, and eventually got drafted No. 1 overall to the NBA.

He put up 19/5/3 in his debut NBA season and finished second in the Rookie of the Year race behind LaMelo Ball in a vote that feels a bit silly now.

As a sophomore, Edwards helped lead Minnesota to the play-in tournament, then hit five 3s and led the Wolves with 30 points to send the Timberwolves back to the playoffs for only the second time in 18 seasons and danced on the scorer's table.

In his third season, Edwards was named an All-Star for the first time. He averaged 24.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists. He led the team back to the play-in tournament, and then to the playoffs.

Only 32 times in NBA history had a player averaged 22/4/4 by age 22. Edwards was just 21. Only LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, and LaMelo Ball have done it twice by age 22 — and now Ant-Man.

This season, Edwards took another step forward, putting up 26/5/5 in another All-Star season that will likely end up as an All-NBA season when the votes are tallied. This time, there would be no play-in. Ant led the Wolves to the No. 3 seed and the first seven-game series sweep in Minnesota professional sports history.

Only six players in NBA history had a player dropped 25/5/5 by age 23, and you only need one name to recognize them: LeBron, Jordan, Kobe, McGrady, Luka, and Ja. Edwards joined that group this spring — with a full point and, oh right, a full year to spare. He'll likely double down on the list next season.

These are incredibly lofty names we're comparing Edwards to — but we're just getting started.

Regular season accomplishments are great, but real NBA stars are made in April, May, and June.

Edwards' 36-point playoff debut tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving for the fourth most points ever in an NBA playoff debut.

The next year in the playoffs, Ant scored at least 33 points in three straight games against Denver, more 33-point games in a single week than any other Timberwolves player has in franchise history. He's done it seven times now, as much as the rest of the franchise combined.

In one of those games, Edwards scored 41, dropping six 3s and needing just 23 shots to get there. He's one of 17 players in NBA history to score 40 in a playoff game by age 22. He just did it again to complete the sweep against Phoenix, now one of eight players with multiple 40s by age 22. If he gets another one this postseason, the list will be down to just LeBron, Durant, Doncic, Amare' Stoudemire, and him.

But these aren't just one-off scoring bursts. Ant is showing up night after night on the league's biggest stage.

Through 15 playoff games at the tender age of 22, Edwards is averaging — averaging!! — 28.9 points a game, plus 5.5 boards and 4.6 dimes on 48/39/84 shooting. Those are superstar numbers.

Ready for some more lofty comparisons?

Nine players in NBA history have put up 25/4/4 in at least 15 playoff games by age 23: Luka, LeBron, TMac, Ant, Ja, Rose, Donovan Mitchell, David Thompson, and Jerry West.

Other than West who predates the stat, those players are listed in descending order of Box Plus-Minus (BPM), a useful all-in-one stat that measures player efficiency and contribution. Edwards isn't just on the list. He's the fourth most efficient too, and he's still got the rest of this postseason and next to add to it.

Edwards is at 7.8 BPM for his playoff career. For reference, only four players finished higher than that mark this regular season, and they're likely the top four MVP finishers — Jokic, Doncic, Giannis, and SGA.

Typically, you put up 7.8 BPM and you're contending for an MVP ballot. Edwards is doing that for his entire playoff career with games as a 20, 21, and 22-year-old.

How about 25 PPG and at least 6.0 BPM in 15 playoff games by age 24?

Jordan, LeBron, Doncic, McGrady, Edwards, Durant, Hakeem Olajuwon, Vince Carter, Dwyane Wade, and Morant — all top-tier stars, ordered by BPM again with Ant in the top half, and he's still got two, really three, postseasons to add to that list.

Okay, one last list of legends, and this time we're taking off the age limit entirely.

How about just NBA players of any age averaging 28 PPG for their playoff careers with at least 7.0 BPM?

Michael Jordan.

LeBron James.

Luka Doncic.

Anthony Edwards.

End of list.

Edwards isn't just a star.

The way he's playing so far in his postseason career, he may not even be just a superstar.

We are watching a super-duper star birth himself right before our eyes, and the trend line is still only pointing up, up, up.

They call him Ant-Man, and this 22-year-old is playing like a superhero.

He's acting the part off the court, too. Watch any interview and Edwards practically oozes stardom. He's already the heart and soul of the franchise and a leader in the locker room, propping up his teammates and instilling his fearless confidence in everyone around him.

The only question now is where Edwards goes from here, and like Ant-Man, the sky's the limit.

What sort of career comps do you make for Edwards, still almost 100 days from age 23? What other young burgeoning stars are the right targets for Ant?

Edwards just played Devin Booker, another shooting guard you might be tempted to compare him to, but Ant was so dominant in the matchup he probably stole Booker's starting spot on the Olympic team this summer in Paris. With all due respect to Book, a star in his own right, he was not even in the same universe as Ant at this age and didn't make a great playoff run until age 26.

Don't go too far in the other direction either — there's only one Jordan.

I've got four genuinely realistic comps for you, and you're gonna want to sit down for this group, courtesy of Basketball Reference.

That's Bryant in 2000, McGrady in 2002, Carter in 2001, Wade in 2005, and Edwards in 2024, all around the same age and stage of their respective careers.

Not bad company.

McGrady finished fourth in MVP voting in 2002, then won the scoring title each of the next two years. He led the league in BPM at age 23, the year after the season above. Wade led his team to a championship the year after the one above, at age 24. Kobe didn't wait around. This was his first championship season — and he's the youngest name on the graphic too, at age 21.

That is a veritable who's who of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history. Find a list, scroll past MJ, and these are four of the next five to 10 guys on any reputable list.

And now Ant-Man.

Most shooting guards struggle in their early 20s, toiling on losing teams and failing to find any semblance of efficiency until somewhere in their mid-to-late 20s, if ever. Edwards is already doing it, and he doesn't even turn 23 — a nice number for shooting guard elites — for another three months.

We already knew Ant was a star in the making.

Turns out he might be a supernova, exploding right before our eyes.

The best part? The march of the Ant-Man has only just begun.