How rising NBA star Anthony Edwards has quickly become a historic playoff performer
By Ryan McCrary
Four years into his career, Anthony Edwards has cemented himself as one of the best young players in the league and a candidate to potentially be one of the best players in the NBA someday. While his regular season numbers have been very good, what’s really impressive about his production is how well he performs in the playoffs.
Let’s break down his playoff performances so far and see how he has become an elite postseason player at the young age of 22.
Enter Ant-Man: The 2022 NBA Playoffs
Anthony Edwards’ first experience in the playoffs came in 2022 when the No. 7 seed Minnesota Timberwolves took on the No. 2 seed Memphis Grizzlies. He was surprisingly dominant this series despite being just 20 years old, averaging around 25 points, four rebounds, and three assists per game on 60.4% true shooting.
It was incredible watching him on offense during this series because he operated as a primary ball-handler and he handled this responsibility extremely well. He gave the Grizzlies a ton of trouble as a shot creator in pick and rolls, hitting shots off the dribble from the perimeter consistently. His three-point shooting specifically was insane this series, as he shot 40.4% from behind the arc on over nine attempts per game.
Edwards also did a great job of attacking the basket and getting into the paint with ease whenever the Grizzlies were defending him closely or were out of position on defense. This made him really difficult to guard because he was wildly effective as a shot-creator from the perimeter while also being an incredible slasher who utilized his size and athleticism to generate rim attempts at will.
There were even times when he would make high-level plays on defense, making strong rotations to break up plays and force turnovers. It’s not common to see young wings play at such a high level on both ends of the floor in the playoffs, but Edwards did that during his first playoff series. He wasn’t perfect, though. His passing was a bit underwhelming as sometimes he would get tunnel vision, miss open reads, and force tough shots rather than make high-level passes to generate open shots for his teammates.
Still, he was amazing during his first playoff series and he would only get better moving forward.