When Anthony Edwards came into the league with the Minnesota Timberwolves as an explosive and aggressive 6'4", 230-pound shooting guard, his athleticism was the main thing opponents had to worry about. And boy, did they worry.
He was second in Rookie of the Year voting, and then went on to four straight seasons averaging 20+ points a night. He has also earned back-to-back-to-back All-Star nods from 2023-2025, as well as a Second-Team All-NBA honor in 2024 that will likely be repeated in 2025.
It wasn't just his play, though. It was also his attitude. Edwards was cut from the old school cloth. Not one to joke around and worship those that came before him, but rather one to come at them and challenge them for NBA supremacy.
As a an aggressive, athletic, and fearless player, he was a superstar and arguably the next face of the league. But in the 2024-2025 season—and especially this first round series against the Los Angeles Lakers—he's shown that's just the tip of the Ant Man iceberg.
Anthony Edwards has a scary high ceiling
He was always able to score inside with his elite touch and feel at the rim—not to mention those rim-rocking poster dunks—but this season he's expanded his game. The greats always say they want to add a new aspect to their game every offseason, and it seems Edwards took a page out of that book this year, as VolumeSports' Carson Breber recently pointed out.
Ant's ceiling is so terrifyingly high.
— Carson Breber (@Carsobi) April 27, 2025
Top-tier athlete just leveled up to become a 40% 3P shooter on historic volume this year.
With his passing in this series, he's been playing at a Top 5 level.
Plus he can clearly still reach another level defensively.
And he's 23.
The biggest thing he did last offseason was work on his jump shot. Through his first four years, he was about a 35 percent shooting from deep. This season, that jumped up to 40 percent and it's risen even further in the playoffs, as Ant is hitting an insane 43 percent of the 9.3 threes he's taking per game. His 320 threes made and 811 attempted in the regular season both led the league.
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The fact that he was able to improve his efficiency while also increasing his volume by over 50 percent is unconscionable. As Breber said, a guy with his athletic profile that is a deadeye shooter from deep is about as dangerous as it gets.
And that's before acknowledging his defensive potential and improvement in playmaking. He's already a solid defender, but he has All-Defensive First-Team potential there. His passing ability has also seen a bump, perhaps not in assist numbers, but in quality of play. Here's a great example of what we mean:
Anthony Edwards screaming in LeBron James face 👀👀
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) April 27, 2025
(h/t @_MNMuse) pic.twitter.com/UeWdPYVQg1
Anthony Edwards can score inside and outside with efficiency, he can lock up your best player, he's got the attitude to challenge the greats, and he can make plays for his teammates. Oh, and he's still only 23. We're talking cathedral-level ceilings in terms of his potential.
He'll look to build on that by getting LeBron James and the Lakers out of there in five on L.A.'s home floor on Wednesday night in Game 5.
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