Anthony Edwards Is ‘Unquestionably the Guy’ for USA at World Cup, Steve Kerr Says | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

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Team USA basketball coach Steve Kerr believes that Anthony Edwards is the team’s go-to-guy for the upcoming FIBA World Cup.

Following the team’s 99-91 victory over Germany in the final exhibition game before the tournament, Kerr said that Edwards’ importance to the team is obvious.

“He’s unquestionably the guy,” Kerr said, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN. “You can see he knows it. But now the team knows it, and I think the fans see it. … He genuinely believes he’s the best player in the gym every single night. And he’s such a dynamic young player. I think he’s taking a leap.”

Edwards had 34 points in the come-from-behind victory, which the Americans trailed in by 16 points during the second half, and he noted how much fun he had in the effort.

“Man, this was fun,” Edwards said, per Windhorst. “I ain’t have fun like this in a minute. So yeah, this was super exciting. We were down 15 so that was adversity.”

Edwards has averaged 19.2 points and has been shooting 51 percent in the exhibition games. His ability to continue playing at a high level like this will be absolutely crucial for a U.S. team looking to win the tournament for the first time since 2014 and surge ahead of Yugoslavia for the most titles of all time.

The U.S. will enter the tournament in Group C where they will face off against Jordan, Greece and New Zealand. They will open the tournament against New Zealand August 26.