Social media loves comparing Anthony Edwards’ game to Michael Jordan’s, and now Edwards himself appears to be taking that to heart.
On Saturday’s broadcast of the Minnesota Timberwolves-Denver Nuggets game, Mark Jones of ESPN shared an interesting bit of information about the Wolves star Edwards. Jones said that Edwards recently reached out to the retired NBA legend Jordan for advice on how to navigate double teams.
“I was told by someone in his circle that three weeks ago [Edwards] reached out to Michael Jordan on advice on how to handle some of the double teams and traps that he’s seeing,” said Jones. “He’s been extremely frustrated up until late.”
The two-time All-Star Edwards has had to work hard for all of his buckets this season as teams are indeed throwing doubles and traps at him on a constant basis. With the decline of Mike Conley and the departure of Kyle Anderson, Edwards is taking on more of a ball-handling role, which isn’t his biggest strength. Minnesota’s floor spacing has also suffered with the trade of Karl-Anthony Towns, so Edwards’ release valves out of traps are not always there.
Even in his postgame scrums with reporters, Edwards has been expressing frustration over how often he is getting doubled.
Pretty much the entirety of Anthony Edwards's postgame media was him talking about his frustration with the way teams are putting two on him, taking away his opportunities to be a scorer and forcing him to get off the ball.
"It's not how I want to play, of course. I'm only 23, I… pic.twitter.com/7bJdFS6zeU
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) January 3, 2025
As for Jordan, now 61, there may be limitations to his advice since he has been (permanently) retired for over two decades now and also played in an era that predated zone defense in the NBA (with Jordan himself admitting that he wouldn’t have had the same career if he had to face the zone). But it certainly can’t hurt for Edwards to ask an all-time great (THE all-time great in the eyes of many) for pointers. At the very least, Edwards is showing more love for Jordan than many of his fellow 20-something contemporaries have.
