Anthony Edwards has leveled up, and up, and up, in his NBA career. Now, at 24 years old, he's been to two Western Conference Finals as the best player on each of those teams.
But with a burgeoning behemoth in the Western Conference, multiple teams that wrenched their way back into the title race this offseason, and a Wolves roster that mostly sat idly by... if contention is in the cards the next few years, this team will need, somehow, more from Anthony Edwards, who has finished No. 7 in MVP voting each of the past two seasons.
He's answered every call thus far; can he elevate once more to pull the Wolves level with the Thunder in the West and make sure the Wolves stay clear of the Rockets, Nuggets, and Lakers? And, if he's going to, what exactly would that elevation look like?
Edwards' last growth is as a passer, but it might be impossible
This is where things start to get borderline impossible; not because Ant can't improve as a distributor — at 24, I don't think any of his skills are maxed out — but because there just aren't enough offensive options on this team for him to pass to.
Last year, while the Wolves were stumbling along in the first few months of the NBA season, Anthony Edwards said, "I don't want to be just passing the ball all night." That rubbed some folks the wrong way, and understandably so, because fans want to see their team's star player do whatever is in the team's best interest.
But in Ant's case... he kind of was doing whatever possible to help the team win — when no one else can be relied upon to score regularly, him taking over games by shooting all night is him wanting to win. Offensive explosions from Edwards keep the Wolves in games far more often than passing masterclasses from him do.
Hence, Ant and the Wolves are in a Catch-22: in order for him to become the 1A megastar who's teams are in contention every year just because he's on the roster, he likely needs to make one more leap as a passer (Ant averaged a career-high 5.1 assists per game in 2023-24, then was down to 4.5 in 2024-25). But, him becoming that willing facilitator would actually hinder the current iteration of the Wolves, because there aren't enough guys around him who can take advantage of the passes that he gives them.
So, where do we go from here? What can be fairly asked of Anthony Edwards to elevate this team to an NBA Finals contender? Because right now, the last evolution for Edwards... might not actually be something that helps the team get over the hump.