Anthony Edwards is entering his sixth season in the NBA. While he's already a top-five to seven-level player in the league, Ant still has another level to reach. Last season, Edwards unexpectedly became one of the NBA's best shooters, a development that undoubtedly benefited the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Now, playmaking is the next logical step for Edwards to reach another level as a star. With Mike Conley turning 38 before the season starts, and the uncertainty around whether second-year guard Rob Dillingham will be able to handle a bigger role, the Wolves could be counting on Edwards' playmaker more than ever.
If Edwards can grow as a playmaker and take on more lead guard duties, it could change Minnesota's championship outlook.
Edwards' growth as a playmaker would benefit the Wolves
Edwards averaged 4.5 assists in the regular season and 5.5 assists in the playoffs. However, he also averaged 3.2 turnovers in the regular season and 2.6 turnovers in the playoffs. Undoubtedly, Edwards has shown flashes of being able to handle lead guard-like responsibilities. Most notably, he averaged 6.2 assists and just 1.2 turnovers in the first-round of the playoffs.
Regardless, he's also regressed as a playmaker in the conference finals, averaging 4.6 assists to 3.2 turnovers against the Oklahoma City Thunder's stifling defense. At times, Edwards needs to make better reads when the defense collapses on him. In the OKC series, Edwards was especially turnover-prone on drives, and in general, he needs to make more deliberate decisions, especially when he gets double-teamed.
Over the past few years, Edwards has been adjusting to receiving more double teams. This is a tough learning curve for many star players. Regardless, at 24, and given the flashes he showed early in the playoffs, there's reason to believe this area of his game grows.
The Wolves have already started using Edwards as a lead guard
Notably, according to Cleaning the Glass, Edwards spent a career-high 49 percent of his time playing point guard last season. This far exceeded his previous career-high of 30 percent. However, the Wolves posted a +3.8 efficiency differential with Edwards at point guard compared to a +6.2 differential with him at shooting guard. Given the Wolves' uncertainty at the point guard position, it's fair to expect that he plays around the same amount of time or even more at point guard this year.
Playing Edwards as the team's lead guard has a lot of advantages for Minnesota. Most notably, it allows them to lean into their positional size and defense. In a playoff setting, this is vital as teams often matchup hunt their opponents.
Both Conley and Dillingham are undersized guards, so this element isn't possible with them on the court. Nevertheless, Edwards will need to develop more as a playmaker for this point guard experiment to work. If Edwards can do this, it certainly would bode well for the Wolves' title chances.