There will truly never be another Michael Jordan. His imprint on the game can never be erased, given his timeless legacy. Almost 25 years since he last played an NBA game, MJ remains an ambassador for the league.
It wasn’t always easy for the Chicago Bulls guard as he encountered his fair share of challenges along the way. Defenses always focused mostly on him, throwing double and triple-teams just to get him out of his rhythm.
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As a result, Michael was subjected to a lot of physical punishment, especially by teams like the Detroit Pistons. The general outline was to prevent the Bulls guard from entering the paint. Enduring all the pushing and shoving, Jordan eventually figured his way around it.
Facing a similar hurdle in the modern-day game was Anthony Edwards, with less physical punishment, though.
Addressing Ant-Man’s situation, MJ recently shared his thoughts.
“I had a conversation this summer with a high executive at Minnesota and he was talking about Anthony Edwards. I heard during the course of the year that they were double-teaming (him). He didn’t know how to deal with the double team. While that’s the highest respect that you can ever get, if a team feels like they got to double-team you… Those are the types of conversations I try to have when players seek that information,” divulged Jordan.
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What makes the lessons from MJ further special is that many view Ant-Man as a very similar player, so Jordan’s advice is very valuable to him.
Edwards had grown frustrated
Coming off back-to-back exits in the Western Conference Finals, Ant-Man found himself under heavy scrutiny. The Minnesota Timberwolves guard struggled in his performances and the double-team strategy made him appear helpless on several occasions during crunch time.
Edwards had previously expressed his frustration over getting double-teamed during the 2024-25 season.
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“It’s not how I want to play. I’m only 23. I don’t wanna just be passing the ball all night. But the way that they’re guarding me, I think I have to… I’m wired to score… It definitely frustrates me a bit. Them doubling me definitely is like, ‘Bruh, what is going on?’ I’ll be trying to figure it out, man,” Edwards admitted.
Unfortunately, Edwards stood exposed yet again as the Oklahoma City Thunder had the T-Wolves packing in five games of the 2025 Western Conference finals. Addressing the media after his playoff campaign came to an end, Anthony proclaimed that nobody would work harder than him during the summer.
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Showing improvementÂ
Edwards made a point of working on different aspects of his game during the off-season, particularly to address double teams. On his priority list was improving his post-up game and his catch-and-shoot promptness to counter those double-teams. Not to mention, polishing his mid-range game.
One could argue that Ant-Man’s offensive game primarily relied upon finishing at the rim and shooting threes. Putting in the work over the summer, Edwards has shown some new variations to his game. He is shooting 40.0 percent from mid-range and 45.5 percent from the paint so far.
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Though Edwards has shown signs of versatility on the offensive end, it will all boil down to how he handles double teams, especially during the playoffs.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 3, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.