Anthony Edwards is one of the brightest young talents in the NBA today. He was drafted 1st overall in 2020 by the Minnesota Timberwolves and the franchise is already seeing the results from that pick, making the Playoffs after 4 seasons this year with Ant playing as a certified co-star with Karl-Anthony Towns.
No. 2 pick James Wismena went to the Golden State Warriors but didn’t play a single game in the team’s possible NBA Championship run this season. That year’s draft had Edwards, Wiseman, and LaMelo Ball as the top options, so Edwards was not a consensus top pick.
Naturally, Ant had to try out for the other teams in the top three in Golden State and the Charlotte Hornets. It seems Edwards blew his Warriors tryout due to a lack of effort, as it was recently revealed by Ant in a press run for the Adam Sandler and Juancho Hernangomez movie ‘Hustle’.
Anthony Edwards on what he learned from a pre-draft workout with the Warriors. 💪
(h/t @chunkdirty4)
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 7, 2022
“I’m doing this drill that they say Steph be doing. I’m running, touching the line, shoot. Running, touching the line, shoot. You’ve got to make five in a row. I couldn’t do it. I’m too tired. I’m like, ‘Man, it’s just too much.’ But I’m not saying this, so I’m just jogging. After the workout, Steve [Kerr] comes to me like, ‘You can’t go any faster?’ I’m like, ‘I thought I was going pretty fast.’ He was like, ‘Nah, do it again.'”
So now, I’m trying to sprint, and now I’m looking all crazy. Missing left, missing right. So then we go to dinner and he’s telling me, ‘Man, if we draft you at No. 2, you’ve got to be a hard worker. You ain’t working hard enough.'”
Edwards further revealed that he spoke to his trainer after the workout and he credits that failure to be what motivated him to get to where he is at now with his skill. The Warriors ultimately never had the chance to draft Edwards, but a championship-winning coach saying what Kerr did to Edwards was bound to rattle the draft prospect.
