Anthony Edwards breaks laws of physics, unleashes dunk of the year
Anthony Edwards may not be leading the Rookie of the Year race after being taken first overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he just took over in the competition for dunk of the year.
The T-Wolves rookie unleashed one of the most absurd dunks you will ever see near the end of the third quarter against the Toronto Raptors on Friday, violent enough to set social media ablaze.
It started with Edwards getting the ball near the corner and ended with him and Raptors forward Yuta Watanabe both down in the paint. In between was DeAndre' Bembry whiffing on trying to pick off the pass to Edwards, poor Watanabe rotating over to meet Edwards in the paint and Edwards bringing the house down:
DUNK OF THE YEAR.
ANTHONY EDWARDS. #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/hmnhFvldF0— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) February 20, 2021
Somehow, the scene is even more ridiculous as a still-life:
IS THIS LEGAL IN THE US OR CANADA?????????????? pic.twitter.com/gclwdiUum7
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) February 20, 2021
And then there's the slower frame-by-frame:
YOUNG MAN GOT UP@theantedwards_ 📸 pic.twitter.com/qlR0zrhh7l
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) February 20, 2021
And here's pretty much every angle possible:
EVERY ANGLE of @theantedwards_ unreal slam. 📸 pic.twitter.com/t4iSuHjQf2
— NBA (@NBA) February 20, 2021
We could go on. Edwards' head is clearly level with the rim at one point, and his hangtime doesn't seem physically possible. It's becoming something of a habit for a player widely regarded as one of the most athletic players in the 2020 NBA draft.
The best you can say for Watanabe is that he actually tried to stop the dunk rather than make a business decision, but that didn't stop his mid-dunk face from being one of the best parts of the tableau.
Yup, just a humdinger of a play. Except ...
This blown call by this ref just caused a man to be posterized and humiliated in front of millions. Shame on him 😂 pic.twitter.com/7A2GT7qQRG
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) February 20, 2021
Ah, well, small footnote.
Unfortunately for the Timberwolves and Edwards, the sheer force of the dunk didn't translate into any extra points. Minnesota ended up losing 86-81, and Edwards' box score line was actually pretty unimpressive with seven points on 3-of-14 shooting (0-of-7 from deep) with four assists and three rebounds. Not that anyone really cares.
More from Yahoo Sports: