Anthony Edwards is the breakout star of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, and his incredible play for the Minnesota Timberwolves is causing so many people around basketball to reach for the most hallowed comparison in the sport.
Anthony Edwards did Michael Jordan’s shrug, and he knew exactly what he was doing
Edwards says he doesn’t want to be compared to MJ, but he knew exactly what he was doing by hitting The Shrug.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Edwards went off for another scoring explosion as the Wolves pummeled the reigning champion Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of their second round series of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. The Wolves now have a 2-0 lead with the series heading back to Minnesota.
Edwards has heard the comparisons to Michael Jordan that are ever so popular right now. The 22-year-old Wolves guard is roughly the same build at MJ, has similarly nuclear athletic ability, and hit shots that look like a carbon copy of the GOAT. As the Wolves were coasting to a Game 2 win, Edwards hit another amazing shot and immediately started shrugging and grinning. Watch the clip here:
Edwards said before Game 2 that he doesn’t want to be compared to Jordan, but it sure looked like he knew what he was doing by going to the shrug after a tough shot.
Nine years before Edwards was born in 2001, Jordan famously shrugged after hitting one of his six three-pointers against the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1992 NBA Finals. Keep in mind that Jordan, at the peak of his powers that season, only hit 27 three-pointers total during the regular season. While six threes in a game might not seem that notable anymore, it was amazing back in ‘92.
It’s hard to ignore the comparison:
Basketball is a global game, but there’s only one country in the world that could produce a player like Anthony Edwards. He has the bounce, the shooting touch, and the tenacity of someone like Jordan or Kobe Bryant, the players who created the mold by which we judge the shooting guard position.
Edwards has a long, long way to go before there’s any real comparison to MJ, but the important thing is he strikes a similar feeling among fans. He’s too strong, too fast, and jumps too high for anyone to credibly defend. What he’s doing to Nuggets wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in this series feels as similarly cruel to the way Jordan used to abuse defenders in the ‘90s.
Edwards might say he doesn’t want to be compared to MJ, but he fully leaned into it by doing the shrug.
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