Anthony Edwards must have struck a nerve when he made his controversial statement about players of the Michael Jordan era such that it got a second response from Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. His response came in the form of advice to the Timberwolves young guard when he made an appearance on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live.’
Edwards shocked a lot of fans when he previously stated that he didn’t closely follow basketball before his own era and only considered Michael Jordan as a player with significant skill from earlier generations. This had generated a lot of backlash including one from Johnson, when he emphasized that Anthony Edwards should appreciate the talents of players who paved the way for today’s game.
I think he should’ve asked somebody, maybe his father or his grandfather about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dr. J., Isiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Clyde Drexler, all these guys, Dominique Wilkins… Also, too, you might want to talk trash when you’ve won something. You know, if this came from some of the guys who just won on the Celtic team… But you haven’t won anything. If I’m Anthony Edwards, I’m concerned about the Dallas Mavericks, about OKC, about Boston…So I’m concentrating on that instead of what happened in a time you wasn’t born.
Magic Johnson quipped
Magic Johnson wasn’t the only legend to come after Ant Man as Timberwolves legend Kevin Garnett had also weighed in on the discussion, where he expressed his disagreement with Edwards’ statement. On the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast, KG remarked that Edwards’ perspective made no sense and urged him to gain a better understanding of basketball history before making such claims.
Fans won’t be surprised at Edwards’ attitude as he had claimed during the Paris Olympics training that he was the number one option for Team USA which contained greats like LeBron James and Stephen Curry. However, one thing fans will note is that Edwards has to win a title in order to silence his critics.
Magic Johnson on when Michael Jordan wowed him during training
Magic Johnson, unlike Anthony Edwards, can testify more to the greatness of Michael Jordan as they both played together, for Team USA as part of the 1992 Olympics Dream Team. Johnson made an appearance on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast and recounted an incident during the 1992 Olympic practices for the Dream Team, where his team took an early lead against Jordan’s squad.
According to him, as they took an early lead, he began trash-talking His Airness. As a result MJ unleashed his trademark competitiveness, and responded with an impressive display of skill. After a timeout, he made four consecutive three-pointers, executed a 360-degree slam dunk, and even dunked over San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson.
I don’t usually talk trash but I had to that time. So I said, `Michael if you don’t turn into Air Jordan, we gonna blow y’all out. We got upstairs, Larry Bird and I sitting. So he comes in with his cigar [and he says] `I just want to let y’all know there’s a new sheriff in town.’
Magic Johnson said on All the Smoke podcast
Furthermore, Jordan had already secured two NBA championships, which signaled a shift in power from legends like Johnson and Larry Bird to the GOAT himself. He would ultimately lead the Chicago Bulls to six championships in eight seasons.
