Edwards, Jefferson, Collier and Minnesota’s other amazing young stars

Minnesota boasts five long-running professional teams that have played at the highest level of their sport. Each features a young star.

Who will prove to be the best?

The Lynx have Napheesa Collier, an All-Star who is headed to her second Olympics and is the best player on the WNBA’s most surprising team. She is 27 and still improving.

The Twins have Royce Lewis, who is the first player in franchise history to hit seven home runs in the first 12 games of his season. At 25, despite a variety of serious injuries that robbed him of time in the minors and shortened his three seasons in the majors, he looks like a superstar.

The Wild’s lone star is Kirill Kaprizov. He’s 27. The 2021 rookie of the year is the first Wild player to be named to three consecutive All-Star games.

The Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards is somehow still only 22. He was the best player on a team that reached the Western Conference finals. He has made the past two NBA All-Star teams. He plays for a team built to win over the next few years.

The Vikings recently signed Justin Jefferson to a record-breaking contract. He is 25 and reached 5,000 receiving yards in fewer games than anyone in NFL history.

Which of the five is set up to have the best career, with “best” defined as “most historic”?

Collier has already exceeded expectations. If she continues to add offensive moves to her strong all-around game, she will continue to rise in the ranks of the world’s best players. In terms of historical impact, though, she’ll be challenged to become an MVP candidate in a league featuring Brianna Stewart and A’Ja Wilson. She’ll have trouble winning a title because of the Las Vegas Aces, New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun. And Collier has a long way to go to become one of the five best players in franchise history, considering the legacies of Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson and Sylvia Fowles.

Lewis might be the most difficult of these five to project. What he’s doing now is statistically unsustainable, and he has been unable to stay healthy, yet his combination of talent, savvy and charisma makes you wonder whether conventional limitations will apply to him.

Kaprizov is easily the best player in Wild history, and he plays with an admirable combination of skill and grit. The NHL Network recently ranked him as the 17th-best player in the league. Will he be able to elevate his stock while playing for a mediocre team? Or will he receive full credit if he can’t drive postseason success in a sport that is all about the playoffs?

Edwards can do everything on the court you want a star to do, and is six years younger than Michael Jordan was when he won his first title. His challenge will be dueling with the league’s incredible collection of current and future stars. Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are 25. Victor Wembenyama is 20 and might begin dominating the league as soon as next season. Edwards’ advantage is that he is playing on a team that is ready to win big now, and that is built with his needs in mind.

Jefferson is already historically exceptional. He plays for excellent offensive coaches, in a system geared toward getting a star such as himself open. The challenge for Jefferson will be navigating a sport in which one cheap shot can knock him out for a month, and in which receivers are dependent on quarterbacks and offensive lines. There is a reason NFL receivers are considered divas: because they know they can’t help their team or career unless their offense is capable of getting them the ball.

Which of these five is set up to have the best career? My top three: Edwards, Jefferson and then Lewis, while keeping an open mind about Lewis becoming something we’ve never before seen.