Wolves rookie Anthony Edwards chosen for Rising Stars Team USA roster

Minnesota Timberwolves rookie Anthony Edwards has been named to the 2021 NBA Rising Stars Team USA roster.

The NBA will be holding events during halftime of Sunday’s All-Star Game. The rookie game will not be played as the NBA wanted to keep everything on one day due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Edwards has been one of the lone bright spots on the Timberwolves in 2020-21, averaging 14.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game which ranks second, fifth and ninth among rookies, respectively.

The 2020 No. 1 overall pick by Minnesota also leads all rookies in minutes played with 29.0 per game.

Edwards started his career with three consecutive 15+ point outings — a feat only matched by former Timberwolves point guard Jonny Flynn who opened his career with back-to-back 15+ point games in 2009 — and has averaged 16.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists since stepping into the starting lineup on Jan. 29 versus Philadelphia.

The University of Georgia product joins a stellar list of past and present Timberwolves players to earn Rising Stars honors. Since the All-Star format changed to Team USA versus Team World, six players, including Josh Okogie (2018, ’19), Andrew Wiggins (2015, ’16), Gorgui Deng (2015), Zach LaVine (2015, ’16), Shabazz Muhammad (2015) and Karl-Anthony Towns (2016, ’17) have made appearances for Minnesota.

Edwards will look to continue rising up the rookie leaderboards Wednesday night at 7 p.m. as Minnesota (7-28) takes on the Charlotte Hornets. Catch the game on FOX Sports North starting with Wolves Live at 6:30 p.m.