On every given night, every member of the Team USA squad competing for the gold medal in the 2023 FIBA World Cup can go off. But among the 12 players on the roster, no one has attracted higher expectations upon himself than Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards. Many believe that Edwards is the team's undisputed top guy, and he showed that he can shoulder an immense offensive burden when he scored 34 points to lead Team USA to a near-comeback in a loss to Lithuania.

But Edwards hasn't forced the issue too much; during Team USA's lopsided victory over Italy in the quarterfinal, the Timberwolves star took more of a backseat as Mikal Bridges and Tyrese Haliburton did their thing. He took just six shots and scored just three points, deferring to his teammates who had the hot hand — a good choice, as his team went on to dominate the entire game anyway.

At the end of the day, Team USA will need Anthony Edwards to make the right play every time, and head coach Steve Kerr is certainly encouraging one of his best players to strike a balance between remaining aggressive on the scoring front and being more of a playmaker.

“The challenge is to figure out when to attack and when not to. And we're gonna need both,” Kerr said, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN.

Steve Kerr then pointed out how effective Edwards can be either way. He used Team USA's win over Germany during their exhibition games prior to the 2023 FIBA World Cup to illustrate his point that Edwards can be lethal when called upon to function as the team's lead scoring option all the while being a threat all the same even without filling up the scoreboard if he functions as a willing passer like he did against Italy.

Anthony Edwards, as confident of a player as he is, is stern in his belief that he can do whatever it takes to lead Team USA to the coveted gold medal, with the first step being a win over Germany in the semifinals tomorrow morning.

“It's the same thing with the Timberwolves: I've got to look to score or look to pass. It's not that hard,” Edwards said.