Anthony Edwards: Michael Jordan Was The Only NBA Player With Talent In Older Generations | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats & Rumors

Anthony Edwards doesn’t think the level of basketball in the NBA was very high before he really started getting into the sport.

In conversation with Lane Florsheim of the Wall Street JournalEdwards explained that Michael Jordan was the only player “who really had talent” from previous generations.

“I didn’t see it back then, so I can’t say anything,” he said. “They say it was harder back then than it is now, but I don’t think anybody had talent back then. (Michael Jordan) was the only one who really had talent, you know what I mean? So when they saw Kobe (Bryant), they were like, ‘Oh, my God.’ But now everybody has talent.”

Edwards isn’t shy when you put him in front of a microphone. He called himself “the No. 1 option” for Team USA ahead of the Olympics on a roster that also featured LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.

The debate about players from previous generations playing in this current era is not exactly new. There are jokes For years, social media has been rife with claims that Jordan’s dynasty with the Chicago Bulls was started when he played “against plumbers.”

While that may be disrespectful to some of the most iconic players in NBA history, like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, to name a few, it’s hard to deny that the level of athleticism in today’s basketball is as high as it’s ever been.

There have been studies that show that the average NBA player today outperforms the average player ten years ago by four to seven percent.

There is certainly no one from Jordan’s generation like Nikola Jokic. A true center who can handle the ball well, shoot from three-point range and is arguably the best passer in the league, he is a unicorn.

That’s not to say Jordan was the only player from previous generations with skill, but the talent gap was significantly larger then than it is now. There hasn’t been a repeat champion since the 2016-17 and 2017-18 Golden State Warriors.

The last reigning champion to survive the second round of the playoffs was the Warriors during the 2019 postseason.

Edwards’ message may anger some of the sport’s legends, but there is at least some evidence to support his claim that there is more talent in the league now than ever before.