Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards has started making a name for himself in the NBA despite only being 23-years old, but he recently ruffled some feathers with a hot take on older basketball generations.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Edwards was asked how his generation compares to the ones before him, and he said the only player who had skill back in the day was Michael Jordan.
“I didn’t watch it back in the day so I can’t speak on it,” Edwards said. “They say it was tougher back then than it is now, but I don’t think anybody had skill back then. [Jordan] was the only one that really had skill, you know what I mean? So that’s why when they saw Kobe [Bryant], they were like, ‘Oh, my God.’ But now everybody has skill.”
As expected, this comment did not sit well with everyone. One of the most notable reactions came from 12-time All-Star and Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who was one of Jordan’s top rivals in the ’80s and early ’90s.
“Propaganda works, so be careful what you choose to believe,” Thomas said.
In his docuseries, “The Last Dance”, Jordan said that no matter how much he hated him, he still respected Thomas’ talent and described him as the best point guard of all-time behind Magic Johnson. Thomas was in attendance during Jordan’s Hall of Fame acceptance speech in 2009, and Jordan thanked him, along with other rivals, for giving him extra motivation to compete.
Despite throwing some shade at all past players who are not Jordan, the comment doesn’t seem out of character from Edwards because he has always shown a lot of admiration for the six-time NBA champion. He got a lot of comparisons to Jordan last season, but he thought it went too far and didn’t want to hear any more of it.
“I want it to stop,” he told FOX Sports when discussing the comparisons. “He’s the greatest of all time. I can’t be compared to him.”
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