Anthony Edwards’ dunk to Kevin Durant was a defining moment in the NBA

“Passing the Torch” feels like a loving exchange between two people. Think about how you’ll handle a torch – rigorously holding it in your hand while being careful not to move too quickly in order not to burn the person you’re giving it to. I imagine each people’s eyes staring into the fire, knowing that the flame needs to be controlled, but in addition being wary that the wayward embers could break down and hurt someone. When the torch is finally exchanged, there’s likely a nod of acceptance and relief that nobody was hurt. It’s calm.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards’ series-ending dunk to Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant on Sunday, ending the Timberwolves’ four-game winning streak over the Suns, was anything but quiet. It was a violent, explosive dunk that first caught the torch and cemented Edwards as the future, leaving Durant empty-handed in the twilight of his profession.

Even though Durant’s Suns entered the series against Edwards’ Timberwolves sixth in the standings, this was likely the biggest upset of the first round. The Timberwolves were immature, young and prone to late-season meltdowns similar to they did two years ago after they blew the most double-digit fourth-quarter leads in history playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies and last yr, when their team fell on a throw by Wolves center Rudy Gobert hits his teammate, forward Kyle Anderson. If any team was going to fold against a veteran team like Phoenix – led by Durant, who has 4 NBA Finals appearances and two championships under his belt – that might be the Timberwolves.

That’s where Edwards comes in.

At just 22 years old, Edwards had turn into the emotional leader and most significant player on a team that already had 16-year-old point guard Mike Conley, four-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns and the aforementioned Gobert, who won three-time Defensive Player of the Year. Edwards has made no secret of his admiration and adoration for Durant, who entered the league when Edwards was still in elementary school. But Edwards continued to attack his hero – he was talking trash from the moment he first played isolation on Durant – and never relented, culminating in a decisive 40-point performance in Game 4 that worn out Durant’s respectable 33 points.

We’ve never seen Durant so completely defeated in a playoff series, especially since he was in great form. The considered anyone having the ability to seemingly demoralize considered one of the biggest scorers in league history seemed inconceivable at the starting of the franchise, let alone years ago when Durant was dominating the NBA with the Golden State Warriors. But it happened with utter destruction.

Which brings us back to the dunk.

Each yr brings its share of memorable dunks, but it surely’s rare that a single moment of airborne impact can change the trajectory of a sport.

In 1983, NBA great Julius Erving had his way legendary dunk over Los Angeles Lakers guard Michael Cooper, noting that this was his yr of being the best in the league and its champion. In 1991, Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan previously shook two New York Knicks players dunk to Knicks center Patrick Ewing on the way to his first championship. The dunk marked Jordan’s emergence as the latest king of the game. In 1994, Warriors center Chris Webber invoked one other changing of the guard before taking the ball behind his back. dunking on Suns forward Charles Barkleysignaling that a latest generation of power forwards who took their influence from Barkley, the Round Mound of the Rebound, would soon take over the NBA.

Edwards over KD caused the same kind of tectonic shift.

With lower than two minutes left in the fourth, Edwards placed Beal in isolation. Dribbling between the legs. Left hand hesitation. The first step that moved at supersonic speeds. And the elevation. Durant began to jump to block but realized he couldn’t reach the top of Edwards. So he jumped out mid-jump. But his body was still present enough to be eviscerated by the fury of the impact.

It’s an apt metaphor for the show: Durant realizes for the first time in his profession that he cannot reach the heights of his opponent.

It have to be a humbling feeling that will be felt across the league as luminaries of my generation see their sporting mortality. We are already facing a play-off in which LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Durant is not going to make it out of the first round. We’re just days away from the possibility of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic becoming the only MVP winner to advance to the second round this season. Perhaps previous champions will get a second and third wind in the coming years, but these deep playoff runs feel more like one-offs than signs of recent dynasties. But Durant has the most extraordinary profession of those greats and a future that seems the scariest.

Durant’s Suns have it no first-round draft picks from 2025 to 2030. He has already expressed frustration with the way he was used in the Phoenix offense. Can he force a departure, which might send him to his third team since leaving Golden State in 2019 and the fifth team of his profession, or will he remain with a Suns organization that has no path to a championship ahead of him? and his “only” two titles after joining a Warriors team that had just broken the regular season games record. Either way, Durant’s profession might be difficult to quantify.

He will finish his profession in the top 10 in all-time points scored, and with two Finals appearances under his belt, he may never have a statue built in front of an NBA arena. Durant has played on some version of the super team that’s the Big Three for the last 15 years, and since leaving the Warriors in 2019, he has failed to make it past the second round. Sure, there are some unique circumstances behind the disappointments, but Durant was the leader of every of those teams.

This season, teaming up with Devin Booker (who scored 49 points on Sunday) and Bradley Beal was supposed to be his best probability to break that spell. However, the whole lot fell apart faster than anyone expected. Now Durant looks to a future that’s falling apart.

The unknown in all of that is what’s Edwards doing now? He was at all times going to eventually land after taking off to dunk Durant, but his profession was primed for continued growth. His next opponent is the league’s current immovable object in the type of two-time MVP Jokic.

While the Nuggets might be the favorites, the results of this series won’t be as telling as what happens in the coming years. Edwards, along with his gritty defense, million-dollar smile, atomic dunks and off-balance attitude, began the season next, but now he’s on his way. He finds himself in a place he knows from every game: looking down on anyone who dares to get in his way before realizing there is no point in even trying.

This is what happens when you could have a torch and are ready to set fire to the whole lot that gets in your way.