It only took one game for Anthony Edwards to validate his hyped up improvement

If there was one major talking point about Anthony Edwards' growth entering his age-24 season, it was becoming a mid-range threat. In the Minnesota Timberwolves' opening game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Edwards delivered on his rumored improvement and put together one of the best games of his career.

En route to a 118-114 victory, Edwards poured in 41 points, seven rebounds, and an assist. Edwards netted all four of his field goal attempts in the fourth quarter. Five out of Edwards' 14 made field goals were mid-range shots, including a stepback mid-range shot to secure a win for the Timberwolves.

This performance was truly unreal from Ant. He surgically dissected the defense and did a lot of damage against an elite on-ball stopper in Toumani Camara. Undoubtedly, this type of performance should put the rest of the NBA on notice, and it's clear Edwards has reached another level.

Anthony Edwards is quickly becoming unguardable

Over the past few seasons, Edwards has already established himself as one of the best scorers and all-around players in the world. Edwards already reached another level when he blossomed into one of the league's best 3-point shooters last season. However, with these strides as a mid-range scorer, he is becoming truly unstoppable.

Give him space to shoot a 3-pointer? That's a mistake. Don't have an elite rim protector? Ant will make you pay for that with his elite athleticism. And now Edwards can punish smaller defenders and create separation in the mid-range area. Good luck stopping that.

Last season, Edwards shot 37.6 percent (which was a career-high) on 2.7 mid-range attempts per game. In the playoffs, these numbers fell to 30 percent on 2.0 mid-range shots per game. Notably, Edwards hit just nine mid-range shots in the entire playoffs last year. As mentioned earlier, Edwards netted five mid-range shots tonight, nearly as many as he did in the entire 2025 playoffs, and he did so with impressive efficiency.

Edwards watched Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant film to improve his mid-range game this summer. Watching him on Wednesday night, the influence of the game's two greatest shooting guards was clear. Obviously, Edwards won't average 41 ppg for the season, but if he can dice up defenses like he did on Wednesday, while remaining engaged on defense, an MVP leap is certainly within the cards.

Ultimately, while the Western Conference is loaded, it's clear that Edwards has leveled up his game, and this Wolves team will be a tough out no matter who they play.