One trend in Anthony Edwards' game is that he has continuously gotten better each season he's been in the league. He started as an uber-athletic shooting guard, but his game was pretty unpolished. Now, he might be the most complete scorer in the NBA currently.
The Minnesota Timberwolves' superstar had a case for the All-NBA First Team last season, but he missed too many games toward the end, which made him ineligible. But going into this season, he seems healthier than ever, and if the improvement continues, we could be looking at an MVP-caliber campaign. Jaden McDaniels certainly thinks so.
"This is year seven, I think this could be the MVP season for him," McDaniels said at media day.
Anthony Edwards can finally leap into the MVP conversation
For the last few years following the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, the roster construction hasn't exactly been optimized to fit Edwards and what he needs to be successful. Now Edwards is such a good player that he has found ways to have elite seasons regardless, but still, things were not easy for him offensively.
The team didn't have any consistent true point guard play, and the roster didn't have nearly enough spacing. A Julius Randle-Rudy Gobert frontcourt was a nightmare for Edwards when he tried to get to the rim, as the entire opposing defense would almost always collapse on him.
Now, the roster is much more suited to getting the most out of Edwards. LaMelo Ball finally gives him a true pass-first point guard who can take the playmaking and shot-creation pressure off him, and an elite one at that. Jonathan Kuminga is another versatile wing defender who can create his own shot in bogged-down moments, leaving Edwards as far from the only one who can do that.
A few things need to happen for Edwards to vault himself into the MVP conversation, and I think they're all extremely doable. The first is breaking the 30 points-per-game mark, which shouldn't be as hard as it sounds. He averaged 28.8 last season with a clunky roster and some injuries.
The second is more regular-season wins. It's been back-to-back seasons that the Wolves have finished as the sixth seed. There isn't really any reason why a healthy Wolves team couldn't finish top three or top four at bare minimum. They just need to take the regular season more seriously, and this roster seems prepared to do that.
If those two things happen, Jaden McDaniels' claim could have some real validity to it.
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