Olympics are a whole new level for rising Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards

LAS VEGAS – After most of Team USA’s practices this week, Anthony Edwards was the last person in the gym. The rest of his teammates boarded the bus back to the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, but Edwards would stay back with some Team USA staff members and his best friend Nick Maddox, who grew up with Edwards and is a fixture at almost every Timberwolves game, home and road.

Maddox helped Edwards run through a post-practice workout, which involved Edwards shooting from all over the floor. He began near the rim and gradually worked his way out while going around the arc, until he capped it off by heaving up some half-court shots. These workouts usually took about an hour to complete.

Earlier in the week, Edwards said he was trying to get back into game shape after over a month off since the Wolves season ended to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals. The workouts, plus the team’s practices, seemed to pay off, as Edwards looked near top form in Wednesday’s scrimmage against Team Canada.

He came off the bench and looked like the best player on the floor when he was out there. He finished with 13 points to lead all scorers. But to hear him after the game, Edwards said he experienced an emotion he hadn’t felt in a long time, not even in NBA playoff games.

“I was nervous for real, I ain’t gonna lie,” Edwards said. “I told ‘Bron [LeBron James] … I ain’t been nervous in a minute. My first time playing in the Olympics. I definitely was nervous.

“I don’t know what made me nervous. I was just nervous.”

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Over the next month, Edwards will embark on an experience like no other he has ever had, playing alongside future Hall of Famers like James, Stephen Curry and his boyhood hero, Kevin Durant. Minnesota and NBA fans in America already know Anthony Edwards; the world is about to get to know him now. It’s a place Edwards said he could have never imagined being and company he didn’t think he could be in when he was younger.

“It’s an honor for me,” Edwards said. “I remember watching these guys [Durant, Curry and James] play against each other in the finals. Sitting in front of the TV like, ‘Yeah.’ So now, I’m here with them. It’s an honor for me. I’m just happy to be here.”

Edwards might not have been telling the complete truth with that last line, not for those who heard what he said when he had his first media availability after one of Team USA’s practices. Edwards, in a moment that went viral, said he was the No. 1 option on a team filled with them.

“I’m still the No. 1 option. Y’all might look at it differently. I don’t look at it no differently,” Edwards said. “I just go out there and be myself. Shoot my shots. Play defense and they got to fit in to play around me.”

In part, this was his new teammates’ introduction to the Edwards the Wolves know: super confident, but somehow lacking arrogance, always delivered with a smile and not putting on any false airs.

“He’s authentically himself,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “He’s not going to change. He’s going to be the same person every day, on the court, off the court. You see on TV, when some of y’all make these moments go viral. It’s really like, ‘This is just you.’ This is one of the things I love about Ant. He’s himself. He’s not going to change. He’s one of those guys where he can say something wild, as we heard, but it’s him being himself.”

Head coach Steve Kerr later said he loved what Edwards said about being the No. 1 option and wished other guys on the team thought like Edwards did. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, one of Kerr’s assistants, said Edwards’ youthful energy is a welcome presence on this version of Team USA.

“He channels it in the right way. He wants to win, wants to be a part of winning,” Spoelstra said. “He’s dedicated to the process of it and he’s going to be him, and his personality. He’s not going to change just because he’s on a team of this caliber. I think that’s the beauty of his personality.”

Even one of Edwards’ rivals from last season’s playoffs is glad Edwards hasn’t changed the joy, confidence and swagger he normally exudes just because he’s around some of the game’s modern legends.

“I’m glad nobody has taken that from him,” Phoenix guard Devin Booker said. “I hope he continues to be who he is. I think it’s great for the game.”

One of the highlights of Edwards’ first week has been the ability to bond with Booker’s teammate Durant, even as Durant hasn’t practiced while recovering from a calf injury.

Edwards, whose career highlight included squaring off against Durant in the playoffs — and being able to trash talk with him — said he’s been talking to Durant non-stop.

“It’s been great being around Ant,” Durant said. “He’s like a sponge. He also has a lot of knowledge himself. … So he fits right in. I’m looking forward to actually getting on the court with him and being his teammate.”

Edwards said can’t wait to share the court with Durant, a three-time gold medal winner Edwards said he hopes is one who takes clutch shots late in games when the U.S. needs a bucket.

“Definitely still got butterflies there waiting for that to happen,” Edwards said. “Because I’m ready to see the Olympics K.D.”

What will the Olympics version of Edwards look like? For one, he’ll have to play better off-ball defense if he wants to stay on the floor, said Kerr, who coached Edwards in the World Cup last summer.

“His on-ball defense last summer was amazing, and it helped change our team and get us better,” Kerr said. “Frankly, his off-ball defense struggled or suffered and he needs to get better chasing shooters, staying connected, boxing out, things like that.”

Sounds like his scouting report with the Wolves. Edwards has been intentional about adding to his game each offseason with the Wolves, whether it be moves around the basket, a mid-range game or incorporating bank shots. He wasn’t sure how the Wolves’ deep playoff run and Olympic schedule would impact that for him.

“It’s tough,” Edwards said. “I mean, I feel like playing is a little better than trying to add things. But it’s definitely going to be tough that I can’t add something I want to. Replacing it with playing with these guys, playing against the best in the world, I think I’ll be all right.”

This could be the start of a long Olympics career for Edwards. He and Indiana point guard Tyrese Haliburton are positioned to be the torch bearers of the program moving forward for years to come.

“We got one common goal in mind and that’s to not come up short this year,” Edwards said. “We the young’uns. We might be in this thing a few years to come. That’s my brother.”

Said Haliburton: “As father time starts to creep in on these guys very, very slowly, we’d definitely want to be a part of that moving forward.”

Booker, who played in 2021, said Edwards is about to encounter a whole new audience for his game and his personality.

“There’s a crowd for people that don’t watch NBA basketball that come up to me just talking about the Olympics,” Booker said. “It’s much bigger. It’s more grand. We all have our followings, but this opens you up to the world.”

Nerves and all, here comes Anthony Edwards onto that world stage.

“It’s going to be historic with this team,” Edwards said. “I’m just happy to be a part of it, honestly.”