Special to Sports News Highlights

(SNH) — Going into the 2020 NBA Draft, there were questions raised about Anthony Edwards. There were concerns about his love of the game of basketball, worries about his drive and enthusiasm for winning. Fast forward to May 2024, that discourse has aged like milk.

By the end of the summer, Edwards could cement himself as not only the new face of the NBA, but the face of the entire basketball world.

The Edwards-led Minnesota Timberwolves have yet to lose a game in the 2024 NBA playoffs. They swept the Phoenix Suns in the first round, and after they shell-shocked the defending champion Denver Nuggets in their own home for two games straight, the Timberwolves look to take a 3-0 series lead in Minnesota on Friday night.

The Timberwolves absolutely pummeled the Nuggets in Game 2. This Denver team, led by three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, has never looked as vulnerable as they did in that game. It felt like a changing of the guard.

Through six playoff games so far, Edwards is averaging 32.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists. He’s shooting nearly 42% from behind the arc on just over seven attempts a game. Though he has defensive stalwarts like Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels on his team, he more than delivers on that end as well. He’s not a pushover in any aspect of his game. When he’s on the court, he's making an impact.

The team is making the leap to greatness because Edwards is making the leap to greatness. And with new greatness comes comparisons to past greatness.

The Michael Jordan comparisons can’t be ignored. The fadeaway jumpers. The athleticism. The dunks. Some people even say he looks like a young Jordan in the face.

He has that special charisma – the swagger. He’s unafraid of the moment.

Edwards denies wanting to be in that conversation, expressing humility, but it can’t be denied on the court.

"I want it to stop," the 22-year-old Edwards told FOX Sports the other day. "He's the greatest of all time. I can't be compared to him." 

Even after saying that, in the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves’ Game 2 trouncing of the Nuggets, Edwards did the famous Jordan ‘shrug’ almost as if he was winking to the world.

His charisma has translated off the court as well. Edwards had a role in the 2022 Adam Sandler sports drama Hustle. In what was his first acting gig, his performance received positive reviews.

Edwards will also be one of five NBA players starring in a new NBA series on Netflix. The show will be modeled after Netflix's Quarterback documentary that followed three NFL quarterbacks throughout the 2022 season.

The series will reportedly follow Edwards along with the Lakers' LeBron James, Boston's Jayson Tatum, the Heat's Jimmy Butler and Sacramento's Domantas Sabonis. 

Since the start of the playoffs, Edwards has generated the second-most video views across NBA social and digital platforms (100 million), trailing only James.

Many believe the winner of the Minnesota-Denver series will go all the way. If the Timberwolves win the NBA title this year, with Edwards as their leader and sure favorite for Finals MVP, he could cement himself as the face of the league.

But that’s not all. The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are only two months away, and the U.S. men’s basketball team is absolutely stacked. If Edwards wins the NBA title in June, then plays a considerable role in bringing home the gold medal on the world stage in August, it would more than send a message that he’s the new face of the entire sport.

Similarly, for a few years now, there’s been questions about the next face of American basketball. Certainly, just how global the sport has become is remarkable and an enormous positive. Between Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid and young Victor Wembanyama, the league is overflowing with international talent. But who’s the next superstar from the U.S? Edwards has every chance to be that guy – and imminently.

The ball is in his court.

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