{"id":137413,"date":"2025-08-11T16:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T16:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/137413\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T16:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T16:49:12","slug":"where-does-anthony-edwards-rank-among-the-wests-best-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/137413\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Does Anthony Edwards Rank Among the West\u2019s Best Players?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Edwards Cracks the Top Three \u2014 But Can He Go Higher?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome to the NBA dog days, that strange two-week stretch in early August when there\u2019s nothing happening except Instagram workout videos and the occasional badly Photoshopped \u201cplayer in new jersey\u201d graphic. NBA.com knows we\u2019re starving for content, so they did us a favor: they dropped some filler rankings.<\/p>\n

First, it was the Western Conference power rankings<\/a>, where, as we covered a few days ago, the Wolves somehow ended up fourth despite making back-to-back Western Conference Finals. (Insert heavy sigh here.)<\/p>\n

Now, they\u2019ve given us their list of the 10 best players in the West heading into the 2025\u201326 season<\/a><\/strong>. And while Minnesota as a team may have been slighted, our guy Anthony Edwards actually landed right where he should: #3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#1 \u2014 Nikola Jokic.<\/strong>
No surprise here. The guy has three MVPs, two runner-ups, and just dragged a supporting cast of \u201cNBA 2K MyLeague auto-generated players\u201d to within a game of the conference finals. He\u2019s the best player in basketball until further notice. You can\u2019t argue it \u2014 and if you do, you\u2019re probably still mad at him for turning your favorite center into barbecue chicken.<\/p>\n

#2 \u2014 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.<\/strong>
The reigning MVP. The smoothest, most unhurried 30 points per game you\u2019ll ever see. Shai has the late-\u201980s Bird vibe where you know he\u2019s about to kill you, you know exactly how he\u2019s going to do it, and you still can\u2019t stop it. OKC just won the title, he was the best player on the team \u2014 the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 writes itself.<\/p>\n

#3 \u2014 Anthony Edwards.<\/strong>
The right spot for now, but you can see the path to #1 or #2. The gap between Ant and Shai isn\u2019t massive \u2014 it\u2019s more about consistency. Shai shows up as \u201cThe Guy\u201d every single night. Ant can be that guy, and in flashes, he\u2019s even better. But there are still those random nights when he\u2019s a little too willing to defer, or he spends the first three quarters feeling out the game before flipping the switch. To get to SGA\/Jokic territory, Ant has to start games in takeover mode, not just finish them there.<\/p>\n

#4 \u2014 Luka Doncic.<\/strong>
Honestly, I thought the Lakers bias might bump Luka ahead of Ant. Luka certainly took a step back last season following his injury and trade to the Lakers. We\u2019ll see if cutting weight and gaining some stability has him back in the Top 3 conversation this season.<\/p>\n

#5\u2013#9 \u2014 The Old Guard.<\/strong>
Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and LeBron James. All legends. All still capable of taking over a series. But also all one injury away from turning their playoff run into a \u201cwhat could have been\u201d documentary.<\/p>\n

#10 \u2014 Victor Wembanyama.<\/strong>
Probably a year away from cracking the top five, but you could already argue he\u2019s more valuable than a couple guys above him. That\u2019s the scary part.<\/p>\n

Landing at #3 isn\u2019t just a hat tip from NBA.com. It\u2019s official acknowledgment that Anthony Edwards has arrived. This isn\u2019t \u201cpotential\u201d anymore. This isn\u2019t \u201cfuture face of the league.\u201d This is: You are one of the guys everyone else is game-planning for now.<\/p>\n

But if we\u2019re being honest, it\u2019s also a bit of a dare.<\/p>\n

Right now, Jokic and Shai are standing in front of him like the two final bosses in a video game. Shai just outdueled him in the Western Conference Finals and has that \u201cnever takes a night off\u201d killer mentality. Jokic\u2026 well, Jokic is basically if Bird, Sabonis, and a beer league point guard got stuck in a lab together and came out with 4D vision. To leapfrog either of them, Ant has to make a leap that\u2019s about more than just stats. It\u2019s the consistency.<\/p>\n

Because here\u2019s the thing, Shai never gives you a 5-for-18 night in March when you\u2019re playing the Spurs on the second half of a back-to-back. Jokic is never passive for three quarters before deciding, \u201cAlright, I guess I\u2019ll get 14 points in the fourth.\u201d But Ant still has those nights. And on a Wolves team that has Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, and a supporting cast full of guys who need him to be the gravity point on every possession, he can\u2019t disappear for stretches.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also about seizing the alpha moments in the playoffs. Look at the Wolves\u2019 postseason runs the last two years \u2014 there are games where Ant is clearly the best player on the floor, and then there are games where he\u2019s \u201cjust another star.\u201d The difference between #3 in the West and #1 in the league is eliminating the latter entirely. If you\u2019re really the guy, you don\u2019t just win series\u2026 you define them.<\/p>\n

And maybe that\u2019s the fun part about this whole thing \u2014 Ant is 24 years old. Twenty-four! He is still figuring it out, and yet he\u2019s already getting compared to the MVP and the Finals MVP.<\/p>\n

So yeah, #3 is fine for now. But this is the year where he can make that jump. This is the year where he can take that \u201cfuture of the league\u201d tag, rip off the \u201cfuture\u201d part, and make it official. The path is right there. He\u2019s got the team, he\u2019s got the continuity, he\u2019s got the stage.<\/p>\n

And for Wolves fans? Let\u2019s just appreciate how insane this is. Five years ago, we were arguing about whether drafting Ant over LaMelo Ball was a colossal mistake. Now we\u2019re arguing about whether he\u2019s the third-best player in the West and whether he could eventually be the best player in the world. This is uncharted territory for this franchise. The Wolves have a top-three player in the conference, a roster built to win now, and back-to-back trips to the conference finals.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Timberwolves. Anthony Edwards. Contenders. It\u2019s not just a cute underdog story anymore. This is a franchise with a real shot, a superstar close to hitting his prime, and a roster that knows how to win in May.<\/p>\n

If #3 is where Ant starts this season, don\u2019t be shocked if he finishes it at #1 \u2014 because when you\u2019ve got a player this talented, this driven, and this ready for the moment, the ceiling isn\u2019t a ranking\u2026 it\u2019s a parade.<\/p>\n

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