Anthony Edwards Torched by 'Pardon The Interruption' Over Old NBA Comments

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser did not hold back in their criticism of the young Timberwolves star.

Jul 10, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; USA guard Anthony Edwards (5) looks on in the fourth quarter against Canada in the USA Basketball Showcase at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports / Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

Anthony Edwards is coming off maybe the best six-month stretch of his life to this point, emerging as a full-blown NBA superstar while helping Team USA win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. His honeymoon period with the general public lasted less than a month before he put a target on his back by proclaiming Michael Jordan was the only player of the previous basketball generations to have skill.

This caused quite the reaction and led to the usually even-keeled Magic Johnson to take a pretty vicious shot at the young star's lack of winning pedigree. On Tuesday, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon of Pardon The Interruption felt it was time to go in on Edwards.

"The comments are somewhere between naive and stupid," Wilbon said. "If I were in the locker room and I saw the Ant Man... This comment makes it sound like he knows everything. But if you said, 'Ant Man, sit here and look at this video for a second of a guy named Erving Johnson.' And then watch a guy named Bird, and watch a guy named Isiah Thomas, and watch Reggie Miller, and watch John Stockton and Karl Malone and David Robinson. Watch these people! Ant Man would go, 'Okay, never mind, I shouldn't have gone there.'

"I expect a take it back, walk it back situation any moment now."

"I'll be brief on this," Kornheiser followed. "He sounds like a fool. He does. Nobody had skill but Michael Jordan?... He's got to look at these people because he is destroying NBA legends. This is a guy, he's a talented player. He was on the Olympic team, though he didn't play as many minutes as seven or eight other people during the Olympics, but he is a talented player. He should have stopped, Mike, with this quote: 'I didn't watch it, I can't speak on it.' That's where he should have stopped!

"You are taking generations of NBA stars and putting them on the trash heap. So stop it."

"He sounds like a fool."

"Nobody watches anymore. The people at networks don't watch!"

Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon had quite the reaction to Anthony Edwards' comments on 1990s basketball today on 'PTI': pic.twitter.com/U0MKkiZjUW

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 27, 2024

Edwards definitely kicked the hornet's nest with his off-hand comment and, as Wilbon said, it wouldn't be a surprise if he backtracked at least a little bit in some fashion. On the other hand, it would fit Edwards' personality to stick to his guns because he's a showman first and foremost. And all publicity is good publicity. Right?