It wasn’t just Shai that was a detriment to Minnesota in Game 1 though. It started when 90% of the team forgot how to shoot. That was exacerbated by a poor coaching performance from Chris Finch, who didn’t get much help from his young superstar, Anthony Edwards, who apparently left his hero cape in Minneapolis.

Just like Gilgeous-Alexander excels at flopping his way to the foul line, former ESPN First Take tag-team partner Skip Bayless has a talent for shocking his way into sports media relevance. We don’t hate on success here, though. People eat up Skip’s outlandish takes. That’s why FOX paid him over $50 million to spew them from 2016-2024.

Minnesota Timberwolves’ Edwards gets ‘Can’t Man’ nickname

And over the past couple months, Bayless — who is from Oklahoma City and does not hide his OKC thunder fandom — has had rising Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards in his hyperbolic crosshairs.

Unsurprisingly, the Wolves’ Game 1 loss on Tuesday night did not draw any sympathy from Skip, who recently created a new nickname for “Ant-Man”, renaming him “Can’t-Man”.

CAN’T MAN IS OVERHYPED AND OVERRATED pic.twitter.com/7OqZwrUXFO

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 21, 2025

“All of a sudden SGA (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) went MVP on the Timberwolves while Ant Man, right on schedule, turned into Can’t Man. He just can’t. Second half, fourth quarters, playoffs. I told you going into this, way too often in big playoff game fourth quarters, he has been Can’t Man…The worst player on the floor, says plus/minus, was Can’t Man tonight…I told you, Can’t Man is overhyped and overrated.”

Skip Bayless – X

Look, Skip Bayless may have media’s most punchable face. Most agree on that. Still, Stephen A. Smith’s old Cold Pizza and First Take co-star brings up some valid points. In game one, it’s hard to deny Ant’s disappearing act.

It wasn’t that he was terrible as much as he was nonexistent. Even Edwards was first to admit postgame that his 13 total shots on Tuesday night — 18 points on 3-of-8 from deep — are unacceptable for a guy who wants to be mentioned in MVP conversations sooner than later.

Off-ball Ant is coming for blood in game two… pic.twitter.com/uL1a8kZlqC

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) May 21, 2025

Of course, Ant is not overrated or overhyped. I’m not even sure Skip really believes that himself. But that doesn’t really matter to Bayless. He’s decided that Anthony Edwards is his next LeBron, who he’s been dragging down for decades.

Related: NBA Pundits Agree: Flopping Shai is a Problem for the League, Not Just Timberwolves

Nonetheless, our 23-year-old superstar did not play well in Game 1, and thus, I expect him to bounce back with vengeance in game 2, something that should scare the heck out of Oklahoma City.

No matter what Skip Bayless tries to speak into existence, Edwards is a generational talent in this league and he’ll show that off in this series just like he did in the first two (which Skip has conveniently forgotten about).

Ask any middle-age Vikings fan (35-55) which NFL wide receiver has/had the best hands of all time, the answer will be the same. It was Cris Carter. No doubt, no room for argument. Second best hands of all time go to Randy Moss… but that’s for another article.

Cris Carter might’ve had the best hands in NFL history pic.twitter.com/nkEIiUZ99F

— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) July 26, 2024

When Carter’s 16 year playing career finally ended, he took to analyzing the NFL for ESPN. There, the Vikings legend worked on NFL Countdown, hosted a radio show and did guest appearances on various weekday morning shows, including First Take, back when it used to have the infamous Skip Bayless on it.

For those who don’t know, Bayless was the original star of ESPN’s First Take. He started it on its current path, before bringing on Stephen A. Smith. Together full time, from 2012 to 2015, Skip and Stephen A. built First Take into the daily powerhouse it still is.

Minnesota Vikings legend Cris Carter does not like Skip Bayless

Cris Carter, much like many sports fans around the world, is not a fan of Skip. His dislike for the now 72-year-old Bayless dates back to (likely) 2011 or 2012, when he appeared on First Take with Skip and Stephen A., and the discussion turned to Tim Tebow.

It’s important to note that Bayless got famous as a sports media personality, in part, due to his willingness to die on take hills, rather than admit defeat. For example, Skip came up as an NBA reporter during the Michael Jordan era, so he has refused to admit that LeBron James is good at basketball, since James was in high school. To this day, he still hates on James every chance he gets.

But nothing will ever top Skip’s stance on Tim Tebow. Unlike with LeBron, Bayless his professional reputation to the success of Tebow, and he was willing to ride Tebowmania into the NFL Hall of Fame or die in his vehicle, as it crashed and burned into the annals of NFL history.

As we now know, it took three years for the latter to happen. Skip Bayless, however, still believes he was a great QB. And during that time, he was Tim Tebow’s No. 1 fan and he let everyone know about it. Even back when Tebow magic had taken over America, Carter wasn’t having it.

Carter threatened to punch Skip in the face of Super Bowl comment

So, he supposedly told Skip on air that Tebow doesn’t throw the ball well enough to play QB in the league. To that, Skip said the one thing to Cris Carter that nobody can ever come back from. ‘that’s why you didn’t win a Super Bowl’. I’ll let CC finish the story, on what happened next (transcribed below the video).

“I’m gonna be honest with you, Skip Bayless is not one of my favorite people. I’m on there doing the show, I do the show and everything. This was when the [Tim] Tebow phenomenon was going on, and he was a huge Tim Tebow guy.

“So, I come on there on a Monday and we’re trading barbs and everything, we’re going back and forth. I just leveled with him and said, ‘listen, if throwing the football is important in the NFL, Tim Tebow will never be a starting quarterback in the NFL’.

So, he got defensive and he came back and said, ‘well that’s why you didn’t win a Super Bowl’, which has got nothing to do with nothing. We went to commercial, I took my ear piece out and I told him, ‘I’ll never be on this show again and if you ever say anything like that to me again, I’ll punch you right in the fucking face’.”

Cris Carter (Fully Loaded Podcast)

Related: Does Kirk Cousins Regret Leaving the Minnesota Vikings?

The now infamous First Take was actually spawned from a much larger ESPN project called “Cold Pizza“, which ran on ESPN2 from 2003 to 2007, before ESPN First Take replaced it. Now, it stars Stephen A. Smith, but it was Skip who put the show on its current track.

Cris Carter was really good at football

During his NFL career, Cris Carter hauled in 1101 receptions for 13,899 yards and 130 touchdowns. He played 12 seasons for the Minnesota Vikings, where he produced more than 1000 of his career receptions, over 12,000 of his receiving yards and 110 of his career touchdowns.

And as Vikings fans, we know exactly what it’s like when every football argument ends in not having a Super Bowl. Skip should’ve known better.

In response, Edwards was completely unguardable for most of the night, posting a season-high 44 points. But his best moment came on what the Indiana Pacers thought was a game-tying last-second layup. After missing a free throw that would have put the Wolves up three, Aaron Nesmith raced up the court and tried to gently lay the ball off the glass, two points that would have sent the contest into overtime.

Instead, Ant came from behind and took flight for a game-saving block. Edwards jumped so high that he actually hit his head on the underside of the hoop’s rim, something that admitted hurt after the game.

ANTHONY EDWARDS 44 POINTS AND THE GAME-SAVING BLOCK 🚫

Ant hit his head on the rim as he blocked Aaron Nesmith to save the Timberwolves win!pic.twitter.com/0VbXr0ZsrB

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 8, 2024

The play itself was breathtaking. Seriously, does it get better than that block? Probably not, and I’d be surprised if you can find anyone who says differen… wait… I’m getting word that not everybody was impressed by Ant’s block?

Anthony Edwards’ epic Block Was Easy says Skip Bayless

Apparently, noted hater Skip Bayless (FOX Sports) wasn’t impressed even slightly. That’s right, Skip spent part of his Friday arguing with former star NFL wide receiver turned co-host, Keyshawn Johnson that Ant’s block was “the easiest block you’ll ever see.” Sounds like a joke, right? Well, it’s not. In fact, there is video proof of how blind Skip Bayless is.

Keyshawn Johnson thought he was walking into a fun conversation about one of the best blocks in basketball history and you can see the bewilderment in his eyes and reaction grow more intense with every word that falls out of Skip’s mouth.

Skip Bayless dubs the Anthony Edwards' block the "easiest block you'll ever see." pic.twitter.com/cdD6hYD3KX

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 8, 2024

“This was killing a gnat with a sledgehammer. This was the easiest block you’ll ever see because he’s so far above it… Jaden McDaniels was gonna block that easy. He came completely over him and beat him to the basketball, it was unbelievable. There are white jerseys everywhere. Somebody is going to do it. You gave this a 10? It’s the easiest block ever. It turned into a ‘dad’ block. I’m just telling the truth.”

Fox Sports’ Skip Bayless on Anthony Edwards’ game-sealing block

Related: Karl-Anthony Towns is Prioritizing Wolves Playoff Run Over His Own Future with Meniscus Quick Fix

There’s no telling what would have happened had Edwards not blocked Aaron Nesmith’s shot. Perhaps Bayless is right, maybe McDaniels gets up quick gets a paw on the shot, but I’m glad he didn’t because we would have been deprived of the most athletic play I’ve seen on a basketball floor so far this season.

Final grade: Ant 10/10, Bayless 0/10