A player has rarely gotten better every single season of their career: no regression, no down seasons, just constant, linear improvement. That's what Anthony Edwards has done, and now he sits extremely close to the very top of the NBA hierarchy. But where exactly does he rank amongst his peers?
Some obvious candidates are better than him (for now). Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is coming off back-to-back MVPs. Nikola Jokic is a three-time MVP and one of the greatest offensive players of all time (although we saw how the playoffs went, but I digress). Victor Wembanyama is maybe the most talented defender the NBA has ever seen while also scoring 25 a game.
Then you get into the territory where I think Anthony Edwards sits. Guys like Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jalen Brunson, Jayson Tatum, Cade Cunningham, and, maybe a hot take, Tyrese Haliburton. These are my personal top 10 players in the sport, in no order, and outside of the top three mentioned prior, how does Anthony Edwards stack up?
Anthony Edwards has a case to be the fourth best player in the world
I'm taking the top three out of consideration. We all know he has another level to reach before he's truly in the conversation for best in the world, but as for the other players I listed, Edwards has a strong case to be ranked above them.
My eighth, ninth, and tenth best players, in order, would be Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, and Steph Curry. Two of those guys are coming back from Achilles injuries, and while Tatum looked fine, he didn't have the gear that had him in MVP talks pre-injury. Now I'm not saying he can't get that back with a full offseason to get healthy, but it's still a conversation.
We still have yet to see how Haliburton looks post-injury as well, so he can't be ranked terribly high until we see how he bounces back. As for Cunningham, his turnover problems and lack of proven playoff success hold him back.
Then there are the trickier ones. Giannis, Luka, and Brunson. Brunson just led his team to an NBA championship, but the Knicks also built a near-perfect roster around him, designed to cover up his flaws, specifically on defense. Luka has elite counting stats, but conditioning and defense, combined with nagging injuries, have hindered him in big moments recently.
As for Giannis, he's likely better than Edwards when healthy. But that's the caveat: he hasn't been healthy often lately, and it's hard for me to rank someone this high when they aren't always available.
Ultimately, I would have Anthony Edwards at fourth best in the world. He is the best three-level scorer in the sport, and a lot of the guys he's been in conversations with, he's eliminated them in the playoffs (Kevin Durant, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Devin Booker). He's also one of the most durable players on this list, which matters, and he's one of the best playoff risers in the league.
He'll keep getting better too. The addition of LaMelo Ball will likely level up his game to another level, to the point where a scoring title would be realistic. If that's the case, I believe he could be knocking on the door of the top three as soon as next season.
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