Since the day Anthony Edwards entered the league, he has been deemed the second coming of Michael Jordan. At first, it was because of their somewhat similar facial features. Soon, the resemblance became even more uncanny when everyone realized that Ant-Man’s playing style, athleticism, aura, and most importantly, killer mentality, were also eerily similar to that of the Bulls legend. However, there is one key attribute that seemingly separates Edwards from MJ – selflessness!

Following the Wolves’ 42-point blowout victory vs OKC in Game 3, Julius Randle highlighted Ant-Man’s admirable trait, “I just think he is very in tune with his teammates and what’s going on. As great of a player Ant is and what he does, how special he is on a night-to-night basis, he’s like the definition of selfless.” Yes, Edwards is clearly the best player on this squad, and has been for several years. Yet, he always prioritizes team success over individual stats, even if it requires supporting his teammates behind the scenes.

Randle continued, “I mean, just shortly after that game he knows I’m hot, like I’m upset. Not just cause we lost but I wanted to play well and I felt like I didn’t help my team at all. He was the first one, he see me and he like ‘Bro, just shake back. You good. Don’t worry about it.’” Julius had a terrible outing in Game 2, finishing with only 6 points on 2 of 11 shooting. Like all great leaders do, Edwards became the voice of reason for Randle and motivated him to do better in Game 3. Moreover, he dished out six assists, trying to get his teammates in rhythm. “He’s very mature and very in tune with the team. As a leader of the team, you need that.” Julius added.

As great a player as Jordan was, he never had this kind of connection with his teammates. Matter of fact, he was not the most ideal person to share a locker room with and many players even deemed him “selfish.”

Scottie Pippen and more teammates reveal Michael Jordan’s ‘selfish’ nature that separates him from Anthony Edwards

Well, starting with the greatest teammate Jordan ever had, Scottie Pippen played a key role in his six championship runs. But after MJ publicly accused Pippen of being ‘selfish’ in an episode of The Last Dance docuseries, the Bulls legend fired back in his memoir, Unguarded. “How dare Michael call me selfish? You want to know what selfish is? Selfish is retiring right before the start of training camp when it is too late for the organization to sign free agents.” Pippen wrote, accusing Jordan of going into early retirement after his father passed away, without giving his team a heads up or time to recover.

Moreover, he also took a shot at the documentary for keeping MJ in focus instead of the entire Bulls team, “I did feel like that the documentary was not really about The Last Dance… I feel like that the documentary was solely built and controlled through Michael Jordan.” Another one of Jordan’s legendary teammates, Horace Grant, once detailed their strictly professional relationship, “Mike and I never had a great relationship. We respected each other as teammates in terms of us having one goal, and that goal was to win a championship. We didn’t hang out that much off the court. He had his set of friends; I had my set of friends. The only person I really hung out with was Scottie. I wasn’t really close with MJ.”

Even in the later stages of his career, Jordan struggled to build strong personal relationships with his teammates. During his brief Wizards tenure, he along with Charles Oakley, reportedly gave Kwame Brown a very hard time, causing major stress for the youngster. “They used to force me to work out for two and a half hours before games. Then they sat me on the bench until we were down by 30 with a couple of minutes left in the game. As soon as I made any little mistake, the coach would be on the sidelines, cursing and ranting like we were losing the games because of me. MJ never wanted me on the Wizards from Day 1. He drafted me to trade me for Elton Brand, but the owner of the Wizards blocked the trade.” Brown once revealed.

It escalated to a point where Brown felt threatened by the two legends, “They used to bring old veterans into practice just to have them foul and beat the c— out of me every day. I had Charles Oakley threatening to beat me up. I was an 18-year-old kid. Ya’ll thought I was weak. I’m one of the strongest men, ya’ll know. If ya’ll experience what I experienced at the age of 18, ya’ll would have been looking for the highest bridge to jump from.” Although Jordan’s greatness is undeniable, not many would say that he was the best teammate and leader.

Meanwhile, looks like Ant-Man is building his own legacy in that department. Despite being just 23-years-old, he has mastered the art of connecting with his teammates and being selfless, which Jordan unfortunately never could, at least on a personal level. It’s evident by how fondly Randle and the rest of the Wolves locker room talk about Edwards. Thoughts?