With players such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant in the twilight of their careers, there has been chatter in recent years about who could be the next face of the NBA.
Anthony Edwards is one of the names that is often thrown out there as someone who could take that subjective mantle. For the fourth straight year, Edwards has been named as a participant in the All-Star Game. Asked about it at All-Star Weekend, Ant-Man replied with, “Man, them folks got Wembanyama. They got Wembanyama. They’ll be alright.”
That’s not the first time that the 24-year-old's words show he has little interest in having that face of the league moniker.
Edwards wants to give the title to Wemby
All-Star Game media sessions are meant to be more fun in nature, and it's mostly softball questions that are asked to the players involved. A similar question was asked of Edwards at last year’s All-Star Weekend as to whether he sees himself as a future face of the league. Ant gave a similar response by stating, “No, not really…that’s what they got Wemby for.”
Later that day, when talking to NBA TV, Edwards further spoke on that face of the league topic and said, “I’m capable of being that guy, but I don’t want to be that guy. Put it like that. I want to be the guy to just show up and hoop and just kill dudes and go home.”
Some may say this talk about the face of the league is silly. Again, it’s subjective. Nobody receives that official title. The NBA logo doesn’t change from Jerry West to the current player who is considered the face. That player isn’t guaranteed to be the cover athlete for the newest NBA2K game. No one has a stipulation in their contract stating that if they are given that title, they receive an annual bonus.
I guess it’s more of a bragging rights thing. Ant-Man is certainly one of the more high-profile current NBA players. I can’t tell you how many times I saw the Sprite commercial featuring Anta Claus, or the Adidas 1 with Edwards signing Fantasia at the top of his lungs (and I don’t even watch much television other than sports). His Q Score is certainly on the rise.
Edwards isn’t interested in being the face of the league. Regardless, the 2020 first overall pick has to be aware that, at the very least, Edwards is the undeniable face of the Minnesota Timberwolves.