The Minnesota Timberwolves fell just short in Thursday’s Christmas Day classic against the Denver Nuggets, losing 142-138 in overtime despite the fact that Anthony Edwards tallied 44 points on 14-of-25 shooting. He battled with three-time MVP Nikola Jokic all night but was ultimately outdone, as Jokic tallied 56 points, 16 rebounds and 15 assists in the narrow win.

Three of Anthony Edwards’ points came on a 24-foot jumper from beyond the arc with 1.1 seconds remaining, sending the game to overtime with the score knotted at 115 apiece. Following the game, Edwards’ teammate Jaden McDaniels insisted that he was getting Edwards the ball in that situation regardless of what he had to do. 

“I'm just confident like that, so I knew it was going in,” McDaniels said. “I was reacting before he even shot the ball. And I told him, like, I'm going to just throw it to you. I don't care who else is open. I'm going to just give you the ball. We just trust each other like that. He ended up making it.”

McDaniels and Edwards came into the league together in 2020 and have been teammates in Minnesota their entire careers, so there really isn’t a teammate who has been closer to Edwards throughout his time in the league than McDaniels has. And vice versa. McDaniels waxed poetic about his friend and teammate before the Timberwolves game against the Nets on Saturday.

“It's special,” McDaniels said. “Just like, the ways he scores and the abilities that he can do it and the consistency. I'll say, I mean, it's good to watch. It's just the same way as we watch Jokic do what he does, it's kind of the same kind of thing as watching Ant when he's super hot and being aggressive. So, I mean, as a fan, watching from a fan, I mean, it's super exciting. And the NBA is in good hands.”

McDaniels also knows, more than anyone, what Edwards brings to the Timberwolves franchise as a whole. From his teammates to the front office, Edwards is a trendsetter and an organizational leader in every sense. 

“It brings a lot of energy,” McDaniels said. “Just how hype he is or just how locked in he is about winning and wanting to dominate the game. I feel like he brings a different aggression out of all of us and just makes all of us play better and play with that energy.”