Before he played a collegiate minute, Anthony Edwards was on the shortlist of candidates to be the NBA’s No. 1 pick in 2020. Over 32 games at Georgia, there were moments — more than a couple, but fewer than a slew — when potential met reality.
The first came Nov. 20, 2019. The Bulldogs were playing Georgia Tech — in March 2021, many of these Yellow Jackets became ACC champs — at Stegeman Coliseum. Junior Rayshaun Hammonds, who’d scored 26 of Georgia’s first 56 points, incurred his fourth foul with 10 minutes left and his team leading by eight.
With Hammonds sitting, Edwards — who’d scored one basket over the previous 30 minutes — took the next shot. It was a 3-pointer in transition. He made it. He scored 12 points in 3½ minutes, prompting Tech coach Josh Pastner to say, “He’s a pro ... Pros do that.”
Eight days later, Edwards and the Bulldogs were in Maui. Bill Walton was doing commentary for ESPN. At the half, Georgia trailed Michigan State — the Spartans of Tom Izzo and Cassius Winston were No. 1 in preseason — by 21. Edwards had four points. A pre-Thanksgiving audience was thinking, “Why is he a big deal?”
Those who stayed tuned saw why. Edwards scored 33 second-half points. From 28 down, the Bulldogs drew within two. Walton was his pragmatic self, asking, “What was Edwards doing the first half?” By game’s end, one of the greatest-ever college players had come around, asking, “Why isn’t Edwards taking every shot?”
Georgia would lose 93-85. Edwards finished with 37 points, having also made two assists, of which former Spartan Magic Johnson would have been proud. An ESPN camera caught UGA coach Tom Crean half-smiling, prompting Walton to say, “He’s thinking, ‘We’re going to win a lot of games.’ "
Those Bulldogs finished 16-16. Their last victory came on March 11, the night before the world shut down due to COVID-19. In an 18-point victory over Ole Miss on the first/last night of the 2020 SEC tournament, Edwards scored six points. He took 13 shots, missing 11.
He’d finish as the conference’s third-leading scorer and its freshman of the year. Only twice after Maui would he break 30 points, those in losses at Florida and South Carolina. A season that was supposed to return Georgia and Crean to national prominence ended with a shrug. How could a talent so big make so small a splash?
COVID pushed the 2020 draft to November. Two days shy of a year after his stunning second half, Edwards was the first player taken. Nobody doubted he could play. Nobody disputed his skills. At no time did Crean, who lasted one more season in Athens, suggest Edwards was difficult to coach, calling him “one of the greatest teammates I’ve ever been around.”
For all that, we wondered how long it would take Edwards to settle in the NBA. The answer: about 15 minutes. He finished second — to LaMelo Ball, taken No. 3 in 2020 — in rookie of the year voting. By his third season, Edwards was an All-Star. Now he acts as if he owns the place.
On a star-spangled Minnesota roster, he’s the unquestioned main man. He scored 40 points in the Timberwolves’ closeout of Phoenix and Kevin Durant. Edwards had 43 in the Game 1 victory over Denver. In Monday’s Game 2, he made the poised and polished Nuggets look as helpless as Michigan State had been in Maui.
After Karl-Anthony Towns staked Timberwolves to an early lead, Edwards did his takeover thing. He flashed past, dribbled between and rose above all would-be defenders. Minnesota led by 26 at halftime. Its lead peaked at 32 points — this on the road against the reigning champs.
After sinking a fourth-quarter trey, Edwards gave the Jordan Shrug. MJ being the GOAT, this seemed a bit much, though here we note: Michael Jordan was 23 when he had his first 40-point playoff game; Edwards, who won’t turn 23 until August, has three already.
In hindsight, we — I include myself in this — might have paid too little heed to Edwards’ age. He was 17 when he graduated from Atlanta’s Holy Spirit Prep. He was 19 years, 5 months and 18 days old when he made his NBA debut. Sahvir Wheeler, part of the same Georgia recruiting class, just finished a fifth season at a third different college.
On the night in 2019 when Edwards took over against Tech, Crean said: “We’re not even scratching the surface on him.” Consider that surface scratched. Potential and reality have met, and they’re doing a happy dance.
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