Georgia Basketball's Anthony Edwards named NBA All-Star
Former Georgia Basketball star Anthony Edwards was named an NBA All-Star on Friday. It’s the first such recognition of his young career coming just three years in. Edwards acts as one of three replacements along with Pascal Siakam and De’Aaron Fox for the injured Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Zion Williamson.
Edwards appeared in the Rising Stars Challenge last season and was named to the Rising Stars Challenge in 2020. The 6-foot-4 guard from Atlanta currently leads his team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, in games played (58), points per game (24.7) and steals per game (1.70). No player in the last four seasons has led their team in each of those three categories for a full season.
Edwards was drafted No. 1 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft after spending just one year on campus at Georgia. He finished that year with 610 points, ranking No. 7 for a single-season in program history (No. 2 among freshmen) and No. 10 all-time among SEC freshmen. He was the nation’s freshman scoring leader with 19.1 points per game and was one of only three first-year players that ranked in the top 100 overall. Edwards was voted SEC Freshman of the Year by the coaches, the first player from Georgia to win the award, and SEC Newcomer of the Year from the Associated Press. He was selected to the All-SEC Second Team on balloting from both coaches and the AP.
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins believes Edwards could be the ‘face of the NBA’
The longtime league member, Perkins is now among the top NBA personalities. He’s been impressed by Edwards so far this season with the way he’s become a go-to guy for his Timberwolves team win star Karl-Anthony Towns out.
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“Karl-Anthony Towns went down, and then now we’re being able to see the emergence of Anthony Edwards being the leader, being the go-to guy on this team,” Perkins said. “Since Karl-Anthony Towns has been out, (Anthony Edwards) has been averaging over 26 points a game, shooting 39% from three. And he’s doing it in great fashion, and they’re winning. They’re winning.”
“If I’m the Minnesota Timberwolves and I’m looking at Anthony Edwards, I’m like, ‘This is our guy.’ And I’m gonna take it a step further. We talk about Luka (Dončić), we have conversations about Ja Morant, we even throw Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Giannis (Antetokounmpo). We have all these conversations about, ‘Who should be the face of the league?’ But we never throw Anthony Edwards in there,” he continued. “When you talk about character, he has the charisma, he addresses the media. People love him. He’s got the talent. He’s going to give you the highlights, he’s going to give you everything and more. So this is a moment to recognize, understand, he’s in Minnesota. But when you talk about the face of the league and you talk about one of the rising superstars that has an opportunity to be one of the greats in the game right now, this is Ant-Man.”
