{"id":436730,"date":"2026-01-27T15:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/436730\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T15:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:52:09","slug":"unrivaled-offers-perfect-opportunity-for-sun-youngster-to-develop-game-changing-skill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/436730\/","title":{"rendered":"Unrivaled offers perfect opportunity for Sun youngster to develop game-changing skill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6a\">Aaliyah Edwards may play for the worst team in Unrivaled right now, but she is using the opportunity to showcase her scoring talent. Edwards averaged 21.4 points over her first seven games\u2014the second-most on the Lunar Owls roster and fifth-most in the league\u2014and scored a season-high 38 points against the Laces.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">Edwards didn\u2019t get the reps she really needed to develop in the WNBA this past season. First, she was <a href=\"https:\/\/highposthoops.com\/mystics-could-solve-aaliyah-edwards-question-with-key-offseason-decision\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stuck behind Shakira Austin and Kiki Iriafen<\/a> in the Mystics\u2019 rotation, and then she was traded to a Connecticut team that already had a set rotation for the season. Playing for the Lunar Owls allows her plenty of reps and opportunities to work on new skills and to expand her game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">WNBA Lisa Legend, who regularly calls Unrivaled games, thinks the next step for Edwards is to expand her range outside the paint. After Edwards hit a long two behind the free-throw line at the 4:43 mark of the Lunar Owls\u2019 third quarter against the Hive, Leslie said, \u201cI think Edwards needs to take more shots\u2014that mid-range, and she can shoot the three also\u2014just to keep the defense honest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aaliya Edwards was a strong inside scorer in her first two WNBA seasons<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">Edwards only took seven threes as a rookie with the Washington Mystics. She didn\u2019t make any of them. She was more successful in the mid-range, making 14 of her 40 attempts, but most of her scoring still came on the inside. Edwards took 115 shots in the restricted area and 48 in the paint. She made 72 of her shots in the restricted area and 17 of her attempts in the paint. At 62.6%, she was most efficient close to the basket.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">While she got fewer shots in her second WNBA season, Edwards\u2019s shot profile looked very similar. Almost half of her shot attempts came in the restricted area, and she made 60.6% of them. She was more efficient in the paint, converting 19 of her 44 shots. However, Edwards still struggled in the mid-range, shooting 7-30, and from three. She took nine threes and didn\u2019t make any.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6s\">Edwards has also thrived around the rim in Unrivaled, <a href=\"https:\/\/highposthoops.com\/undeniable-unrivaled-connection-bodes-well-for-sun-if-free-agency-goes-well\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">playing well off Marina Mabrey<\/a> and Skylar Diggins in pick-and-roll situations and outplaying other bigs in one-on-one situations. But Unrivaled is also the perfect opportunity for Edwards to experiment a little and take shots she hasn\u2019t felt very comfortable taking in the W. The spacing in Unrivaled creates plenty of open shots further away from the basket, and Edwards has the green light to get plenty of shots up.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">If Edwards can become a reliable mid-range threat\u2014or even a threat from three\u2014it changes the way defenses have to guard her.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aaliyah Edwards may play for the worst team in Unrivaled right now, but she is using the opportunity&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-436730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}