Follow our Olympics coverage in the run up to the Paris Games.
LAS VEGAS — Anthony Edwards knows his place on the roster of superstars that is the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team.
That’s true. “I’m not a big fan of the NBA,” he said Sunday, when the cameras weren’t rolling, a few hours after the U.S.’ second practice of the summer, as he sat at a round table with a few reporters in a hotel ballroom somewhere on the Las Vegas Strip.
“We’ve got LeBron, KD and Steph, so I don’t think anybody can win with just those three on the court. If you mix in two average guys like us, we’ll be fine.”
The 22-year-old Edwards, with his megawatt smile, Jordan-like moves and demeanor on the court and quote-machine brain, is playing for the U.S. national team for the second straight year. At last year’s FIBA World Cup, he led the U.S. in scoring (18.9 ppg) and minutes played (25.9 mpg). None of the players on that team had played for the national team before.
This year’s group, the group heading to Paris later this month for the Olympics, certainly has Kevin Durant, Team USA’s all-time leading scorer and potentially the first men’s basketball player to win four gold medals. Yes, there’s also LeBron James, Team USA’s all-time leading assists player and, of course, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. And, of course, there’s Stephen Curry, who, like Edwards, is in his first Olympic Games but, unlike Edwards, is a four-time NBA champion, two-time MVP and the most three-pointers made in history.
It seems like whenever this Team USA is mentioned, it’s compared to something like the 1992 Dream Team, arguably the most talented team of all time. James, Durant and Curry are probably at the top of the list of players who have won the most titles on a team, but the list is long and Edwards is at the bottom of that list. He’s mostly self-aware.
But perhaps Edwards’ awareness of his place on the 2024 U.S. team is less obvious, or overshadowed by the footage he showed just after practice on Sunday, sitting in a high-backed chair, microphone in hand, telling the camera, “I’m still a first-choice pick. People may look at it differently, but I look at it the same way.”
Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards on how he’ll adjust to the U.S. Basketball Olympic team: “I’m still the No. 1 pick. You guys might look at it differently, but … they’re going to have to adjust around me. That’s how I feel.” pic.twitter.com/Cga5kTiR2J
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 7, 2024
That’s Edwards from last season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he led the team in scoring and led them to the Western Conference finals. Last summer, when USA National Team coach Steve Kerr encouraged Edwards to join the bench, reminding him that Dwyane Wade had been benched in 2008 when Kobe Bryant joined the team, Edwards responded, “We don’t have Kobe.”
Edwards always backs up that boast. Last summer, he dazzled crowds with his towering dunks and tied Carmelo Anthony for the U.S. World Cup record with 35 points in a game. Kerr said last summer that Edwards has “become that guy,” and U.S. assistant coach Erik Spoelstra said Edwards “is going to be a household name.”
Edwards is one of two players from a World Cup team to be selected for the Olympic team (the other is Tyrese Haliburton), and he may not make the Olympic team. of He’s a strong contender to wear a U.S. uniform this summer, but he has no plans to change who he is.
“He’s the real deal,” Team USA center Bam Adebayo said Sunday in the same ballroom. “He never changes. He’s the same person every day, on the court, off the court. You see him on TV, some of you guys talking about his moments, but when you’re next to him, it’s like, this is just you. That’s one of the reasons I love Ant. He’s who he is.”
“From what we’ve heard, he’s obviously the type of guy who will say some outlandish things, but that’s just who he is.”
Edwards said multiple times Sunday that Durant was his favorite player. Durant was playing for Oklahoma City when Edwards first watched an NBA game as a kid. Durant immediately stood out to Edwards during a game against the Hawks in Atlanta. Edwards was wearing Durant’s number, 35. “I had big feet, so I always bought KD (Nike) shoes to play in,” Edwards said.
Durant has not yet practiced with the U.S. team because of a calf injury, but Edwards said, “I haven’t even been able to play with him yet. It’s definitely still pounding, but we’re waiting for that to happen. We’re ready to see KD in the Olympics.”
When asked who would be Team USA’s “leader” if the Americans needed to score, especially in a close game late in the fourth quarter, he said, “I think it’s Kevin Durant. That’s what it’s going to be. I’m here for him.”
Smooth.
🇺🇸 @KingJames X Follow pic.twitter.com/Q4AxOpApse
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 7, 2024
Edwards was on the court with James, Haliburton, Anthony Davis and Adebayo during the portion of the team’s scrimmage that the media was allowed to watch on Sunday. Kerr made five substitutions for the final five minutes of the scrimmage, but Edwards returned two minutes into the game to be replaced by Kawhi Leonard.
“They said some guys might miss some games or they might not play some minutes,” Edwards said, referring to a speech Kerr gave when the team got together for the first time on Friday night. “I don’t care. Like I said, I play with Hall of Fame players, so that’s why I’m here. But if they need me, I’m just a phone call away.”
He knows where he stands, even if at times it seems like he doesn’t.
“Some nights it’s not going to work for some guys, some nights it’s going to work for some guys,” Edwards said of what it means to be the No. 1 option. “So some guys are going to be better on some nights, and I think as a team we just have to embrace that.”
Going deeper
“You can feel the greatness in the room” on Team U.S.’s first day of Olympic training camp
(Photo: Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)
