When it comes to comparing rising NBA stars with the legends of the past, it is always a delicate balance. Too much comparison can be unfair. Too little, and you are at risk of missing a story repeat itself. That’s why Mike Conley Jr. Asked about who Anthony Edwards reminds him, he did not hesitate to gain greatness. But he also made it clear: Edwards is carving something all his own.
“I think his game is more like a D-Wade mix,” Conley told me.
“With … I don’t know about another player because I think the other player is just myself.”
There is a lot of praise that comes from the usual floor of the generals like Conley, who has seen-and defended-sip of the best game in his 18-year career. Comparing Edwards to the Miami Heat icon Dwyane Wade is no small compliment. But Conley was not just echoing with talking points. He was pointing out how and why behind it.
“So it’s like it’s all for yourself and it’s D-Wade, do you know?” Conley continued. “Because his body and how he lands in the paint, fluctuates in there is imbalance and finishing and defending the edge.”
That blend of power and finess, the ability to respond to the air while he still finished through contact and bilateral explosives-these are symptoms that made Wade a Hall of Famer and a three-hour NBA masters. Now they are the same symptoms and have made Edwards the face of revolving timber and one of the electrical young NBA stars.
Conley’s point of view is weight because he has seen the development of Ant up close. As a soothing elder next to Edwards’s hesitant energy, Conley has watched the 23 -year -old not only rise as a goal scorer, but as a leader and a player on both ends of the floor.
And yet, what makes the comparison even more curious is Conley’s final conclusion: Edwards is not a copy. He is not remix. He is one of one.
“It’s an ant for yourself,” said Conley.
In other words, the league has seen players like him. But it hasn’t quite seen him before.
And if Anthony Edwards continues on his current path, one day soon, it will not revolve around who he reminds us – it will revolve around who reminds us of him.