Anthony Edwards shows his leadership with social media messages to teammates

Being a great leader is an underrated characteristic of a great player. In large part, that is because so much of what goes into intentional leadership in professional sports happens behind the scenes. Sure, some of this is evidenced by on-court persona. But a lot of the leadership qualities exhibited by a player will be done off-camera. For the Minnesota Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards has obviously become much more of a leader over the years.

We have seen Ant grow from a fiery and excitable rookie who said the first thing that came to his mind into a five-year veteran capable of being one of the greatest players in this league... and who only *sometimes* says the first thing that comes to his mind. But all jokes aside, Edwards has grown into a great leader for his team, and we see examples of it all the time.

The most recent example of Ant's leadership came on social media on Thursday. Edwards posted two stories to his Instagram profile, with each one giving some motivation and encouragement to a teammate.

Edwards hyped up Dillingham and Gobert on Instagram

The first story Edwards posted was a picture of he and Rob Dillingham, with the caption "keep going la." His second story was similar, featuring a photo of him alongside Rudy Gobert during the game in Dallas on Wednesday, captioned simply "keep going," while tagging Gobert's profile.

Some will see this and think nothing of it, but it is the small and subtle actions by a leader that reveal where his attention really is. We know that Edwards cares a lot for his teammates and wants to see them succeed, and these brief messages on social media are further evidence of that.

It is encouraging that Ant took the time to make this seemingly small gesture, and especially while Rob and Rudy deal with their own unique challenges. As they both seek to rise, they can do so knowing the full support of their star is behind them.