4 Anthony Edwards Dunks That Show Why He’s The Next Face Of The NBA

vs Toronto Raptors | Feb. 19, 2021

Anthony Edwards‘ rookie year showed promise of what he could and will be. The athlete attempted to hit outrageously violent dunks in the matches leading up to the game against the Toronto Raptors. Most of the attempts were duds, but he finally caught a body on one fateful February night.

During the third quarter, Minnesota assumed possession of the ball down by three points. Ant-Man caught the ball in the corner of the court and ran down the baseline. After two dribbles, Edwards was encountered by former Raptors player and defender Yuta Watanabe. Maybe not the best idea Yuta made that year. Anthony propelled himself at the rim for a slam dunk and leg drop combo. The leg drop wasn’t intentional, but the disregard for the defender and the hoop definitely was. Just nasty.

The No. 1 pick in the 2020 NBA draft finished the night clocking in 34 minutes with only 7 points. After the game, Edwards did his best to avoid talking about his individual highlight. He went 3 for 14 from the field that night and felt no reason to celebrate. The Wolves lost the game to the Raptors, 81-86. According to ESPN, after he was finished with media obligations, Edwards returned to the court to practice his jump shot for an additional 15 minutes. The makings of a legend, fasho.

vs Chicago Bulls | Oct. 19, 2023

Two years later, the legend continues. During a match against the Chicago Bulls, Ant showed quite an improvement in his game. He scored 19 points in this bout, shooting 8 of 13 from the field. His squad had six players in double figures to help lift the T-Wolves past the Bulls, winning 114-105. But you know what we’re actually here for, right? AE’s dunk.

It all went down in the 2nd quarter with 4:31 left in the first half. Edwards received the ball at the top of the key and drove straight to the basket. Bulls center Nikola Vucevic was directly in the line of fire. However, he made a business decision and wisely stepped aside, avoiding Ant-Man’s thunderous tomahawk dunk. “WHAMCUH,” the slam said. If you closed your eyes, you could almost imagine heavy artillery being shot out of a cannon at the height of battle. “BLOOOMDUH!” AE’s dunk was like an act of war!

Edwards recognized this dunk and showed a little moxy as his bench celebrated the devastating move. Oh, and did we mention that this game was a preseason match? Yeah, the game didn’t even count, and Edwards played like the NBA Championship was on the line. That’s a true mark of the greats; believe that. The Wolves would end the preseason undefeated, finishing with a 5-0 record.

vs Memphis Grizzlies | Jan. 18, 2024

This dunk from Edwards was simply disgusting.

The Grizzlies kept the game close and interesting without their star player, Ja Morant. But the game was all but over after Ant took control of the contest’s flow of battle. Edwards was on fire all game. He scored a team-high 28 points and made his presence felt against a tough, yet injury-stricken Grizzlies squad. In the third quarter, he became as crafty as Hank Pym. Watching his on-court concoctions, you could just tell he’s been busy in the lab.

Anthony Edwards dribbled the rock from the top of the key and surveyed the court. He was met by a defender, now-former Grizzly Zavier Tillman Sr., as he dribbled closer to the hoop. Ant then hit a stutter step, causing Tillman to miss. Floosh. Xavier flies to the left, attempting to swipe the ball, but misses by a hair. Edwards then drives into traffic, escapes, chest passes the ball off of the backboard, a la NBA Street Vol. 2, and dunks the rock. He essentially hit a flawless game-breaker in the middle of the game. One of the craziest dunks ever. It would’ve been perfect, but DJ Cucumber Slice wasn’t there to call the game. Lord knows that move needed OG on the microphone because Ant was “making defenders look foooolish!”

vs Utah Jazz | March 18, 2024

Now, the latest and (debatedly) most incredible dunk of Ant’s career so far: the one in Utah. The latter half of the 2023-24 is hitting a pivotal stretch. Teams around the NBA are going for broke as they try and secure their spots in the annual playoff tournament. Timberwolves are reeling from injury as star player Karl Anthony Towns has been out since the 12th with a left knee lateral meniscus tear. Naz Reid was also out, so the team needed someone to step up and pick up the slack on defense and offense. And Edwards confidently accepted the challenge.

He put the Wolves on his back and had a great game. Ant finished with 32 points and eight assists and seized seven rebounds. Yet, the dunk punctuated all of these components of the night. Anthony Edwards took flight in the third quarter. Power forward John Collins attempted to contest the hand full of power, but it was of no use. Edwards posterized Collins and injured both himself and his opponent in the process. Ant suffered from a dislocated finger, while Collins suffered from a head contusion. “It gives me chills, man, because I always dreamed of dunking on somebody like that,” Edwards told ESPN during a post-game presser. During an interview with the Athletic, Timberwolves Mike Conley Jr. also spoke to his teammate’s rising star. 

“That’s what a leader does, man,” Conley told the publication. “He risked his health to put his team on his back. He knows this is an important stretch for us and that we’re missing people. We have to get these wins. I’m his biggest fan, and he won me over again tonight. 

“Physically, the things that he can do above and below the rim. He’s like a cat. He keeps moving forward, and that’s what makes him who he is. These are the stories that I’m going to be telling people when I’m old and gray.”

And so will we. By that point, Anthony Edwards will be one of the best to ever play the game. And one of the few to become the face of the NBA. “Believe that.”