In order to achieve the ultimate prize of winning a championship, star players must go through some growing pains. Jalen Brunson and Anthony Edwards both starred in the 2024 playoffs, but both ultimately fell short of accomplishing the main objective of hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Edwards, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ dynamic wing player, said last season that he wouldn’t view himself as a bonafide NBA superstar until he gets the job done in the playoffs. Edwards was 21 years old when he made those remarks. A year later, the 22-year-old Edwards is not only becoming a bonafide NBA star but he’s entering a realm occupied by legendary wing players like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
“Whenever you compare him [Edwards] to Jordan, you have to frame it with the age. Jordan didn’t win a playoff series until he was age 25,” ESPN insider Brian Windhorst said during an episode of “Get Up.”
“We’re not talking about 1991 Michael Jordan,” he continued. “Ant Edwards is like 1988 Michael Jordan, when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and the Pistons were still dominating the league. That’s why we’re excited about him. We’re not just excited about him now, we’re excited about where he can be in two or three years. He is on that process and on that timeline. And he’s doing it very quickly at age 22. It is all of those things.”
Edwards has a variation of Jordan’s powerful finishing skills at the rim with sprinkles of Kobe’s Mamba Mentality. Put them together and we may be watching the game’s next great two-way wing player.
“He’s the face of the league,” Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns said about his teammate Edwards, who was the No. overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft. “He hates when I say it, but it’s true,” Towns continued. “Like I said, ‘Future so bright, got to put the sunglasses on.'”
Edwards led the third-seeded Timberwolves to a 4-0 sweep over Kevin Durant’s sixth-seeded Phoenix Suns in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. It’s the first series win for the T-Wolves since the Kevin Garnett era. In the second round, the Timberwolves knocked out the defending champion Denver Nuggets in a grueling series, winning on the road in Game 7.
After his Suns were vanquished from the playoffs, Durant had nothing but praise for the young and hungry Wolves and their young leader.
“So impressed with Ant [Edwards]. My favorite player to watch,” Durant told reporters. “Just grown so much since he came into the league. His love for the game shines so bright. That’s one of the reasons I like him the most. He just loves basketball. He’s grateful to be in this position. He’s taken advantage of every opportunity that he’s gotten. Love everything about Ant … everything. I’ll be watching going forward. I was really impressed with him. It’s going to be somebody I’m following the rest of his career.”
The seven-game battle against the Nuggets took a heavy toll on the T-wolves as they’re struggling to summon the same energy against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in the conference finals. After averaging close to 30 points per game in the first two rounds, Edwards’ scoring output dipped to 24.6 points per game in the conference finals. Edwards and the T-wolves ran out of gas against the Mavs, losing in convincing fashion as Dallas won the series 4-1.
The other young stud with a bright future in the NBA is Brunson.
When the New York Knicks signed the 27-year-old Brunson to a four-year, $104 million contract in 2022, they probably had no idea they were bringing in the much-needed leader that franchise has been missing since Patrick Ewing left town.
Brunson has more than lived up to his free agent contract as he has comfortably filled in the starring role in the Big Apple. For the past two decades, fans packed Madison Square Garden to watch the opposing team’s headliners. Now, the Garden is Jalen’s house. Knicks fans are paying big-time money to watch him perform.
A host of Knicks fans are even willing to travel to a different state — like they did in the first round of the 2024 playoffs when they invaded Philadelphia’s home arena for Game 4. They were treated to a spectacular one-man Broadway show as he authored a 47-point performance, breaking the Knick single-game playoff scoring mark held by Bernard King.
Brunson’s spectacular playoff run came to a crashing halt in the Eastern Conference semifinals. He fractured his shooting hand in Game 7 and the Knicks, which suffered a multitude of injuries during the season, were blown out by the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden.
It was a disappointing finish on what looked like a promising postseason run for the Knicks. But Knick fans should feel good about the future because they now have a steady leader who is determined to get to the top of the mountain and capture the franchise’s first NBA championship since 1973.
“I think the most important thing that I need to do is to continue just to strive for perfection, strive for perfection,” Brunson told reporters. “And, knowing that I’m never going to get there, it’s just my mind says I just need to be better every single day. I don’t care what I’ve done as a player. It means nothing. I need to be better and I’m going to go into the summer training to be better and I’ll come back ready next year.”
Brunson and Edwards were teammates on the U.S. senior men’s national team that competed at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in the Philippines. “Big shout out to USA [Basketball]. They got me prepared for this season,” said Edwards, who was invited to play for Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Brunson, however, was inexplicably left off the team.
Of the 12 players that USA Basketball director Grant Hill invited to play for Team USA in Paris, only Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum, and Tyrese Haliburton made it through the second round of the 2024 NBA playoffs. The other eight — LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Steph Curry, Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bam Adebayo, Kawhi Leonard — were eliminated in the first round.
The Paris Olympics will likely be the last time LeBron (39), Curry (36), and Durant (35) will wear the Team USA colors. They are on the last legs of their basketball journey and it’s time to pass the baton to the next generation of big-time hoopers.
Brunson and Edwards are more than ready to take the baton.