When it comes to terrible basketball takes, Anthony Edwards’ take that Michael Jordan was the only skilled player of his era, might well be at the top of the pile. Edwards has received a lot of backlash for it and Isiah Thomas appeared to mock him on X when he shared a clip of his bounce pass lobs.
“Well its safe to say no one was doing this.”
https://twitter.com/IsiahThomas/status/1832177611671216395
Thomas certainly had a lot of skill and his ability to deliver such precise bounce pass lobs is just an example of that. He was a wizard with a basketball in his hands and finished his incredible career with averages of 19.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 9.3 assists, 1.9 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game. The Detroit Pistons icon won two titles and made 12 All-Star teams along the way and had every right to be quite offended by Edwards’ remarks.
Thomas had previously reacted to Edwards stating Jordan was the only skilled player of his era by claiming that propaganda works. He added people need to be careful with what they choose to believe.
There has been a lot of chatter on social media recently about Jordan’s competition not being all that great and it might well have influenced Edwards. The Minnesota Timberwolves star admitted when he made the claim, that he didn’t really watch the games that took place back in the day, so it wasn’t an informed take by any means.
A fair take when it comes to this topic, in my opinion, would have been that today’s players are more skilled than the ones who came before them. It’s just the natural evolution that takes place over time, and if Edwards had said that, there wouldn’t have been a lot of backlash coming his way.
Among all the negative reactions, Magic Johnson’s might have been the most brutal one. Johnson stated he wouldn’t bother responding to someone like Edwards who has never won a championship. He was clearly ticked off and I can’t say I blame him. It wasn’t just former players like Johnson and Thomas who were critical of Edwards either.
Paul George felt Edwards was being disrespectful to the game and added it was an immature comment. He stated one must pay their dues to those who came before them and I thought he was pretty much on point there.
Edwards hasn’t spoken yet on any of the backlash that has come his way but you’d think he will at some point in the future. I would be very interested to hear what he has to say then.
This saga aside, there has been a lot to like regarding Edwards over the past year or so. He went from being regarded as a rising star to a superstar after leading the Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals in 2024.
Edwards averaged 27.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in the postseason and managed to outplay some of the biggest names in the game. The 23-year-old then also impressed during his time with Team USA at the Paris Olympics and looks set for a strong 2024-25 NBA season.
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