Anthony Edwards is one of the NBA’s most electric scorers, stuffing stat sheets and stadium seats on a nightly basis. That kind of success doesn’t grow on trees. It is earned through years of honing his craft.
The 2026 NBA season marked Ant’s most productive scoring season yet, at 28.8 points per game (3rd in the NBA). His newest weapon? An efficient mid-range jumper.
Why The Mid-Range?
Adding a mid-range jumper in the the modern NBA may seem backwards. We have seen a significant drop in its usage over the past 2 decades, in favor of the more efficient 3 point shot.
Ant himself is one of the NBA’s best 3 point shooters.
His efficiency as a catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter has received a lot of attention as of late, and for good reason. He converts them at a ridiculous 47.8%.
Still, it isn’t his most impactful weapon. That remains his pull-up 3.
Look at Luke Kornet here for the Spurs. He is playing drop coverage, meaning his goal is to protect the rim from drivers who received a screen. Vassell is screened, so Kornet shuffles back to prevent a layup for both Ant and Rudy. Ant sees this, immediately pulls up for a 3, and converts.
This can be difficult to guard. Watch Barnes attempt to anticipate and trap Ant off Rudy’s screen below, and how Ant attacks it.
Ant rejects the screen and gets downhill. Two helpers show, and Ant finesses his way through traffic with a well-timed euro-step.
Ant’s driving bag is deep, which gives him multiple counters to these defensive strategies.
Olynyk attempts to hedge a screen here, which can be an effective way to let the defender (Bryant) back into a play after a screen. Ant races the hedge and beats Olynyk to the spot. Bryant is left out of position, and Ant crosses him up to drive in for a layup.
So why does he need a mid-range? Isn’t this enough? He can fire from 3 and beat you to the hole. He has a recipe for one of the most efficient attacks in the NBA.
Exertion
Ant is one of the most athletic players in the NBA, and there are few that can stay with him when he has the ball.
That is showcased here, as he works to get a step on one of the league’s best perimeter defenders - Alex Caruso.
Ant wins this battle, but it demanded a lot from him to execute. And there are costs to those demands.
A famous example of this came in the 2024 Western Conference Finals. Ant attributed exhaustion to his game 1 performance, in which the Wolves lost a close battle to the Mavericks.
I think Ant is being a little hard on himself after this loss. But he did register his 2nd lowest Usage % of this playoff run, at 21.5% (his lowest would come in game 3 of this series).
What that effectively means is less plays are finished by Ant than a typical game. That is not ideal for a team who is so dependent on Ant's scoring output.
The Wolves get some good actions going here, and it looks like Rudy is going to get a lob dunk. A sound approach, albeit stifled by a clutch defensive play by Luka.
It is hard to be too critical of this approach. Even so, you have to wonder what they would have done if Ant had more in the tank.
Ant’s Mid-Range Through The Years
Ant has exhibited a confidence and willingness to shoot mid-range shots, going as far back as his rookie year. He particularly enjoyed to pull-up against drop coverage, much like his 3-point pull-up.
As he’s developed, he’s attempted to add variations to increase his efficiency. For example, he introduced a bank-shot in his 2023-2024 season.
That efficiency never seemed to rise enough to justify the shot though, and it remained a criticism of his game.
This shot-map visual over his first 6 years is pretty telling here. In many cases, his mid-range efficiency was worse than his 3-point efficiency.
The other interesting data-point is how often he used the mid-range. Through 6 years, Ant only took 19% of his shots in the mid-range.
Let’s check out his most recent season.
Well this is a much stronger graphic! Ant is taking more mid-range jumpers (27.5% frequency), at a much more efficient clip.
But what changed?
The Post-Up
Ant has frequently used the offseason to refine his game, so I was not surprised to hear Ant advertise that he worked on a post-up over the summer. That work seems to have paid off.
Let’s check out an example.
The post-up game is a big change for Ant’s opponents. On top of his shifty drives, opponents now have to worry about Ant using his size and strength to establish position against smaller opponents.
This was a fruitful shot for Ant, who hit a whopping 61.5% of his turnaround fadeaway jumpers in 2026 (via NBA.com).
Why is that so profitable? That goes into my next theme.
Balance
Let’s watch a few examples of Ant’s mid-range pull-up jumpers.
The main thing I take away from these misses is that every shot looks different. Which makes a lot of sense, as mid-range shots tend to be shots in traffic. Ant has to alter his speeds and launch angle depending on what he’s doing in these moments. And that will lead to a less efficient shot profile.
Conversely, Ant’s turnaround fadeaway in the post is one that looks consistently balanced. Here are a couple examples.
Generating these shots doesn't require Ant to change speeds or direction to create space for a shot. Instead, he can create that space with his upper body, which keeps his lower body balanced.
On the topic of balance, there was another trend that became more common with Ant’s mid-range this year.
The Step-Back 2
Ant is well known to be one of the best step-back 3 point shooters in the league.
I will again point to how balanced Ant is on these shots, and how easy they are to generate. Such little effort for a lethal shot.
Ant has taken that mentality to the mid-range at an increased volume.
Two buckets against the best defense in the NBA. Most importantly, they are easy buckets.
The threat of the step-back in the mid-range has benefits. Check out this example.
Here, Ant gets into a step-back, which has drawn some help at the nail. Julius calmly cuts behind him, and Ant drops it off for the easy bucket.
Here’s another benefit.
Brook Lopez is in drop here, but instead of dropping deep to the rim, Brook meets Ant in the middle of the paint. That gives Ant enough room to sneak around for the layup.
What I’m Looking For This Season
Ant still leverages off-balance mid-range pull-up jumpers, which do not convert at high efficiency. Even so, he's become a credible threat here with his new additions.
In the upcoming season, I am looking to see if Ant can use these new additions to manipulate the court for playmaking opportunities more often. Finding ways to create for others via his gravity in the mid-range would do wonders for the Timberwolves prospects.
Another thing I’m looking for is how this could influence newcomers LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga. Like Ant, LaMelo and Kuminga have had inefficiencies from the mid-range in their careers.
And looking at their film, we see a similar pattern of off-balance pull-ups.
If LaMelo and Kuminga are looking to take the next leap in their mid-range game, they should take a lesson from Edwards - find balance more often.
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