Next time Anthony Edwards says he chatted with His Airness, you can be sure it’s true. When he did flex about his casual conversation with Michael Jordan earlier this year, most felt it was another moment of Ant being a braggart, playing into his Adidas commercial persona. Now the man himself confirmed it happened. Jordan just makes it sound more realistic than it felt.

MJ’s Insights to Excellence was back on NBC tonight, on a day when the Minnesota Timberwolves secured an overtime win, 142-149, over the New Orleans Pelicans. Edwards also recorded one of his best performances of the season with 44 points. In the latest microdose of MJ’s insight, Mike Tirico asked him about advising players like Antman.

“I had a conversation this summer with a high executive at Minnesota and he was talking about Anthony Edwards,” MJ said. “I heard during the course of the year that they were double-teaming (him). He didn’t know how to deal with the double team…”

This confirms what a Wolves insider revealed in January about Ant personally reaching out to MJ. He’s sought lessons on getting to his spots and shooting over defenders from the man who did that on any given Tuesday for 15 seasons.

Ant was not the only one getting the MJ comparisons. But he was one of the few who could say he chatted up the legend himself.

Edwards was apparently frustrated about getting doubled. Jordan flipped that mindset around. “Well, that’s the highest respect that you can ever get if a team feels like they got to double team you. Now you figure out how to break the double team.”

Jordan told him about moving without the ball, getting into scoring positions, and the like. But changing his perspective was the most useful advice. When MJ says, “those are the types of conversations I try to have when players seek that information,” the impact it had on Ant was palpable.

The Michael Jordan effect on Anthony Edwards

Earlier this year, when defenders like Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle made Anthony Edwards miserable, he told The Athletic, “I’m only 23, I don’t want to be just passing the ball all night, you feel me?… But the way that they’re guarding me, I think I have to.”

This was followed by an interesting piece of news. “I was told by someone in his circle that three weeks ago Ant reached out to Michael Jordan on advice on how to handle some of the double teams and traps that he’s seeing. He’s been extremely frustrated up until late,” ESPN’s Mark Jones said.

That got mixed reactions. Cynics felt it was Ant being Ant, flaunting his connection to the Black Cat. Vets and analysts debated if Ant could benefit at all by talking to Jordan. The results of that conversation didn’t become apparent immediately when OKC easily routed them out of the playoffs.

The Wolves are not looking like the contenders they were last season. They barely ended a losing skid, including losing NBA Cup contention to OKC again, and struggled against injury-ridden teams. Tonight, the nothing-to-lose last-seeded Pelicans made it very tough for them. It fell on Ant to rally a win.

With the Wolves down by two (129-127) in the last few seconds of regulation, he made a layup that tied the game. He pulled the team through overtime, but the effect of opposition crowding Antman was visible; Edwards was out of breath, hunched over, losing gas as the game progressed.

All offseason, he’s been open about talking Jordan’s ear off. His tenacity is obvious from that, and Jordan instilled the winning mindset in him. Perhaps he needs to prove that MJ’s intervention is effective. However, hard-fought wins tonight make fans concerned about how long Ant can carry the team.