Anthony Edwards' championship inexperience was evident on Saturday, not by his performance on the court but instead by his celebratory champagne struggles after Team USA men's basketball's 98-87 Olympic gold medal victory over France .
As the youngest player on the American roster and one of just three members without an NBA Finals appearance, a video of Edwards struggling to spray his champagne bottle alongside his accoladed teammates was posted by USA Basketball on X.
With Edwards initially unable to uncork his sparking wine, a common tradition for American team sports champions, star American forward LeBron James could be overheard saying, "Come on Ant[hony], we know you ain't been there yet," producing plenty of laughs from his USA Basketball teammates.
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James has picked up plenty of experience in the precise of champagne showers across his illustrious two-decade NBA career. The league's all-time leading scorer has earned 10 conference titles across his stints with Cleveland , Miami and Los Angeles and won four NBA Finals trophies, his most recent triumph coming in 2020 alongside current USA Basketball teammate Anthony Davis .
Stephen Curry also featured in Saturday's video, producing the champagne stream of a serial winner. The Golden State Warriors icon has also scooped up four NBA championships and was deserving of the spotlight after his clutch performances in Paris, nailing eight threes in the Americans' two medal-round games, where he averaged 30 points per game.
Despite lacking the same postseason pedigree as his elder international teammates, Edwards was an obvious choice for this summer's squad, finishing seventh in MVP voting after averaging 26 points and five assists per game. Edwards was particularly dominant in this spring's NBA Playoffs, dispatching teammates Kevin Durant and Devin Booker's Suns and recent opponent Nikola Jokic's Nuggets to reach Minnesota's first conference final since 2004.
By the time Edwards fell in five games to the Dallas Mavericks , he'd established himself as a premier young talent and a future NBA superstar. And despite his lighthearted, celebratory ribbing, James has been bullish on Edwards' future and expects to pass the mantle his way in the near future.
“I would say Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander ], Ant Man, I feel like those are two of the guys that can continue the torch after I’m done, after Steph (Curry), [Kevin Durant], the guys that have just been setting the standard for so many years,” James told Kenny Smith on TNT's Inside the NBA this past season. “Shai — and Ant Man has the charisma, I love that."
Edwards managed to transfer this NBA success onto the international stage at times this summer, pouring in 26 points on 11-15 shooting from the field in the United States' group stage romp of Puerto Rico. However, as Team USA entered the medal rounds and faced stiffer competition against Serbia and France, Edwards' minutes share dwindled to just 13 and 9 respectively in the final two games.
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