Anthony Edwards expressed regret for keeping Kevin Durant and the Suns out of the playoffs.
Edwards says he felt bad for doing that to his favorite player.
The Phoenix Suns were eliminated in embarrassing 4-0 fashion in the first round of NBA playoff action last season at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The sweep catapulted a handful of changes in Phoenix, which included the signing of two point guards in free agency and the ultimate firing of prior head coach Frank Vogel, which was prompty followed by the hire of Mike Budenholzer.
For Suns stars such as Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, they were able to redeem themselves with a gold medal in the Paris Olympics just months later.
Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards joined Durant (and Booker, though Edwards has said numerous times Durant was his favorite player growing up) in Paris to help Team USA win gold.
During a Fanatics Fest showing after the Olympics with Durant and Jalen Rose hosting, Edwards was asked how it felt to knock Durant out in the first round.
“I’m not gonna lie – this my favorite question – I felt bad a little bit,” Edwards said with Durant sitting opposite of him. “Only because he’s my favorite player of all time. I didn’t wanna send him home like that, you know what I mean, it happened man.”
Prior to Olympic play, Edwards said in an interview how excited he was to see Durant in action.
“Playing alongside KD, that’s the only thing I’m looking to do,” Edwards told Yahoo! Sports.
“That’s my favorite player of all-time. I played against him – but to play with him? I want to see the Olympic KD I’d be watching on TV when he’d make all the shots in the Olympics – it’s time for me to see. I want to watch it from the bench now. If I’m on the bench, the floor, however it is, I want to watch him win us a game.”
Durant previously says the first-round series pushed Edwards’ respect to a whole new level.
“We always had respect for him, but it just went to another level playing against him and seeing him compete,” Durant told Yahoo!.
“Ant is a student of the game. He’s a sponge, he’s got a high IQ. I didn’t realize that, he’s got a high IQ for the game. He’s going to be on that level. I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s taking anything from anybody, he’s just putting in that work every day.”
